They were taken at the hacienda La Providencia at the Rio Chiquita in the south-western part of Táchira state, Venezuela; the site is now within El Tamá National Park.

A team of researchers from the Red Siskin Initiative, a conservation partnership between the Smithsonian Institution and several Venezuelan scientific organizations, found six individual in the same area as its discovery.

[7] Grallaria antpittas are a "wonderful group of plump and round antbirds whose feathers are often fluffed up...they have stout bills [and] very short tails".

Their upperparts, wings, and tail are olive brown with thin blackish edges on the back feathers that give a scaly appearance.

Both sexes have a dark iris, a black bill with a pale olive-buff base to the mandible, and brown legs and feet.

It is assumed to make a nest like those of other Gralleria antpittas, a cup of plant material sited close to the ground.

Even the nominal protection afforded by El Tamá National Park has been compromised; almost 20% of its area has been converted to coffee plantations and cattle pasture.