Endemic to arid spiny forests near the coast in southwestern Madagascar, this ground roller occurs at extremely low population densities throughout its habitat.

This species requires shade and a deep layer of leaves on the ground, and it is absent from parts of the spiny forest lacking these features.

These ground rollers feed primarily on invertebrates, including ants, beetles, butterflies, and worms, which they find by searching through deep leaf litter or by remaining still and watching attentively.

It digs a tunnel in the sand, at the end of which is a wider chamber where it makes its nest out of leaves and earthy pellets.

After the chicks fledge, the birds continue living in family groups until at least February before dispersing more widely across the scrubland.

Since the arid, spiny forests in which it lives are not protected by the Malagasy government, it is losing habitat to slash-and-burn agriculture, charcoal collection, and logging.

[2][3] The adaptations required for the ancestral long-tailed ground roller to inhabit scrubland led Rothschild to create the monotypic genus Uratelornis for the species in his description.

[4][8] In 1971, Joel Cracraft proposed a separate family for the ground rollers based on significant differences in behavior, plumage, and post-cranial anatomy between the groups.

[4] No fossils have been found for this genus, and genetic analysis suggests that this bird's closest relative is the scaly ground roller.

[4] Juveniles of both sexes resemble the adult female, but have duller plumage, particularly in the black bands on the chest, neck, and eyes.

[14] One territorial call is a series of soft boo notes, typically coming in sets of six to ten and descending in volume near the end.

[15] This species' prime habitat is spiny forest, a mix of sub-arid thorn-scrub and deciduous woodland that only receives on average 500 millimeters (20 in) of water a year and is covered in sandy soil.

[11] It was formerly believed that the long-tailed ground roller preferred an undisturbed forest habitat, while tolerating small amounts of disturbance.

[19] This species forages almost exclusively from the ground, where it alternates between remaining still and watching attentively and actively searching for it by rummaging through deep leaf litter.

[16][19] It eats a wide range of invertebrates, including ants, beetles, butterflies, caterpillars, cockroaches, grasshoppers, woodlice, and worms, and occasionally small vertebrates.

[20] Male and female long-tailed ground rollers use their bills and feet to excavate a burrow in consolidated, flat sand and construct their nest at the end of it.

The end of the burrow widens into a 20-centimeter (7.9 in) wide chamber with a shallow depression covered in dry leaves and earthy pellets.

[20] When digging its nest, the long-tailed ground roller occasionally walks underneath a low branch, tilts its head upwards, and, while remaining motionless, releases a rising crescendo of its tu-tuc calls.

At the height of the crescendo the bird breaks off its call and flies upwards onto the branch while producing a "ripping and crackling sound" with its wingbeats.

[23] This ground roller is capable of tolerating some habitat disturbance, but requires a suitable amount of shade and leaf litter to continue living in the area.

[1] As the long-tailed ground roller is remarkably silent and difficult to see during the non-breeding season, the local inhabitants of Madagascar once believed that this bird hibernated in its burrows.

While not particularly tasty, this species is hunted for food due to its large size and the relative ease of capture compared with arboreal birds.