This elusive pitta is known only from Rossel Island in Papua New Guinea. After a long gap in confirmed documentation, a living bird was photographed and sound-recorded there in 2022.
The eBird identification account describes a brown hood, blue chest, bright red belly, and a black band separating chest and belly. The back and wings are blue-green, and the throat is darker than the head.
eBird describes it as an extremely shy ground bird of lowland and foothill rainforest. In July 2022, a photo and sound record was published from Rossel Island.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.