Their tail is brown with a black band near the end and thin buffy tips on the feathers.

Their underparts are mostly buffy white with black streaks on their sides and flanks and their crissum is deep buff.

[4][5] The cryptic antthrush is found in the coastal mountains of southeastern Brazil from southern Bahia to northeastern Santa Catarina.

It walks slowly and deliberately on the forest floor and along roots and logs while hunting for invertebrates.

The cryptic antthrush's song is "a long series of 20-40 hollow notes, loudest near the middle and quieter at the beginning and end".

[1] One researcher "found [the Cryptic] Antthrush in partially logged forest habitat, suggesting it may be tolerant of some level of human disturbance".