Due to it having not been seen since the 1890s, its call and daily habits are not known, but it is presumed to be a shy woodland species and possibly active at night, dusk or dawn.

What can be said with certainty is that Hypotaenidia is the most advanced radiation of a clade of smallish to largish rails, whose basal evolutionary grade consists of larger species, many being flightless island endemics and often extinct.

[4] Resolving to what extent these species form clades within the basal grade will determine which of the plethora of monotypic genera are actually valid, and whether the New Caledonian rail is indeed correctly placed in Cabalus or would once again go back into Gallirallus or Tricholimnas.

[2][3][5] All this nonwithstanding, all evidence suggests that the New Caledonian rail belongs to tribe Rallini of subfamily Rallinae, wherein it is one of the few survivors of the initial radiation.

This extended throughout almost the entire Middle to Late Miocene, about 15 to 7 million years ago, and probably started with the descendants of a South to Southeast Asian rail expanding across southeastwards across Wallacea into Melanesia and beyond.

[2][4][5] This bird is supposed to live in evergreen forests and, if still extant, seems to have moved higher up on the island's mountains to escape introduced predators.