Lafresnaye's Vanga is endemic to southern and southwestern Madagascar. It searches dead wood with a thick, flattened bill and feeds on invertebrates and sometimes small chameleons.
Adult males have a glossy black crown, face and chin, a white throat and collar, grey-brown upperparts and white underparts. Females have white lores, forehead and cheeks, with duller grey-brown upperparts.
It uses its thick, laterally compressed bill to lift bark from dead wood and probe crevices. Prey includes insects and other invertebrates, worms and small chameleons; it usually forages alone or in pairs at middle and lower levels.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.