During the Eocene, the Atlantic Ocean separated South America from Africa by at least 1,000 kilometres (620 mi), ruling out a land migration.

The ancestors of Lavocatavis most likely traveled between very large islands that existed on what are now the submerged Rio Grande Rise and Walvis Ridge.

However, it is also possible that the ancestors of Lavocatavis retained some of their flight ability and were able to travel between islands with more ease than flightless birds.

[4] However, Gerald Mayr suggested that Eleutherornis more closely resembles other cariamiforms Strigogyps and ?Dynamopterus anthracinus, while Lavocatavis is likely more related to a possible paleognath Eremopezus, questioning the taxonomic placement of both taxa as phorusrhacids.

[5][6] Because the remains are too fragmentary, phylogenetic analysis cannot be conducted for both genera, and their relationships to phorusrhacids are only considered tentative.