This bush-shrike occurs in montane forest of the Albertine Rift. This entry follows the catalogue treatment of Laniarius holomelas.
A 2010 comparison describes the historical holomelas form as sooty dark and very similar in plumage to L. willardi.
It uses dense forest and feeds on invertebrates; the species account gives records up to about 3,000 m.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.