It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.

[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 of the nominate subspecies G. g. guatimalensis have a pale olive brownish forecrown with fine black scaling and a gray crown and nape.

They have whitish or buffy lores, olive brown ear coverts with thin streaks, and blue-gray skin around their eye.

Their back and wing coverts are olive brown with black feather edges that give the eponymous scaled appearance.

All subspecies have a dark brown iris, a black maxilla, a grayish mandible, and pinkish or bluish gray legs and feet.

There they are fed earthworms and similar invertebrates, which are thought to also be a large part of their natural diet.

They are highly terrestrial while foraging; they hop, pause, and dash to capture prey, sometimes flicking aside and probing leaf litter to expose it.