The group was originally defined in and named after Honda, Tolima, but has been redefined based on the many fossil finds in the Tatacoa Desert, 250 kilometres (160 mi) to the south.

In the original type section of its occurrence, the 3,255 metres (10,679 ft) thick group is subdivided into three formations, from old to young; Cambrás, San Antonio and Los Limones.

The Honda Group is a Konzentrat-Lagerstätte at the fossiliferous La Venta site in the department of Huila and eastern Tolima and hosts one of the richest formations containing Miocene fauna worldwide.

The first author who used the name Honda for a group, was American zoologist who studied the La Venta fauna in detail, Ruben Arthur Stirton.

[8] The Tatacoa Desert, where the type section of the Honda Group has been redefined is an unusually dry region in Colombia, caused by a mountain induced rain-shadow effect.

[9] The tectonic history of the three mountain chains of Colombia, from west to east, the Western, Central and Eastern Ranges has been studied in detail.

The onset of the regional uplift of the Eastern Ranges is dated around the Middle Miocene, with an increased rate of exhumation between 12 and 3 Ma.

The claystones and siltstones that are less commonly found in the La Victoria Formations range in thickness from 1 to 11 metres (3.3 to 36.1 ft) and show reddish-brown, greenish-grey and greyish colourations.

The thickness of the siltstones and claystones can exceed 8 metres (26 ft) and have interspersed fine- to medium-grained 10 centimetres (3.9 in) thin sandstone beds.

The fine sediments of the Villavieja Formation are coloured greenish, reddish-brown or bluish-grey and display weathering patterns in so-called "cauliflower erosion" structures.

The light grey coarser beds, up to conglomeratic sandstone size, do not exceed 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) in thickness and commonly show a lateral transition with the silt- and claystones.

The Baraya Member of the Villavieja Formation shows thin yellowish and reddish brown sandstone and siltstone levels with volcaniclastic grains.

Outcrops along the road between Girardot and Agua de Dios, Cundinamarca show a lower sequence of thick beds of greenish-yellow feldspar- and mica-rich conglomeratic sandstones, intercalated with reddish claystones and an upper level of alternating medium-to-coarse grained quartz arenites with low-angle cross stratification.

The vegetation of the La Venta fossil assemblage was diverse due to the different biomes of the depositional environment; meandering and braided river systems in a setting at lower altitudes than the present-day elevation of more than 400 metres (1,300 ft) above mean sea level.

It has been suggested that the vegetational cover of the Honda Group sedimentary sequence was not a continuous canopy forest, yet a complex pattern of different flora ecosystems.

[32] Based on vegetational and grazer diversity analysis of the La Venta fauna, it has been suggested the ecosystem resembled more that of Africa and Asia than of the modern Neotropics.

[33] Research of the paleosols found in various levels within the Honda Group suggests the presence of arid areas in close proximity to pluvial parts.

[42] The genus names Hondadelphys and Hondathentes, and the species epithets of Anadasypus hondanus and Scirrotherium hondaensis refer to the Honda Group.