It was previously considered as a subspecies of the spot-winged antbird (now M. leucostigma), which at times had been placed in genera Percnostola and Schistocichla.

[6] The Roraiman antbird has two subspecies, the nominate M. s. saturatus (Salvin, 1885) and M. s. obscurus (Zimmer, JT & Phelps, WH, 1946).

Males of the nominate subspecies are mostly blackish slate, with wide white tips on their wing coverts.

The species inhabits dense understorey in tall evergreen forest on the tepuis, where it favors the margins of clear, swift, streams on steep rocky slopes.

The Roraiman antbird's song is a "series of slowly starting, accelerating notes, sharply lowered in pitch at [the] end".

Its other calls are apparently the same as those of the spot-winged antbird, an "abrupt unclear note given singly or in series of 2–5" and a "short rattle".

"Regions inhabited by [the] species also encompass extensive areas of intact habitat which are not formally protected, but seem unlikely to be threatened by development in the near future.