The Santa Marta Antpitta occurs only in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta of northern Colombia. It is a ground-dwelling bird recorded in humid montane forest and forest edges.
It is brown above, with white lores and an eye-ring. The throat is ochraceous buff, and the whitish underparts are streaked brown.
It inhabits humid montane forest, mature secondary forest, and tangled forest edges. It is mainly terrestrial but sometimes perches on low horizontal branches.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.