The Chestnut-bellied Cotinga is recorded in the high Andes of Ecuador and Colombia. A 2008 paper reported one male observed in 2006 at Llanganates National Park, Ecuador, and described its habitat.
The observed male had a rufous belly contrasting with a blackish-grey head, wings, back, and tail, and a jet-black crown.
In the 2006 observation, the male perched motionless for about five minutes on a dead branch extending above the canopy of dense, moist montane forest. The site had 5–10 m trees covered in epiphytes, mosses, and lichens, with thick bushes between them.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.