[4] Grallaria antpittas are a "wonderful group of plump and round antbirds whose feathers are often fluffed up...they have stout bills [and] very short tails".

Adults have a warm brown crown, nape, and upperparts with black streaks on the lower back and rump.

Both sexes have a brown iris, a dusky maxilla, a pinkish gray mandible, and blue-gray legs and feet.

[4] The elusive antpitta's diet and foraging behavior are not known, though it almost certainly feeds mostly on invertebrates captured on or near the ground.

The elusive antpitta's song is "a pair of low whistled notes, the second sliding down in pitch hoo HEEeeoo".

"Although its forests within its range are still relatively intact, the region is subject to some selective logging and is being opened up for development, with oil/gas extraction and mining, and associated road-building and human colonisation resulting in further degradation".