This arboreal guan ranges from the Guianas to northern Brazil. A diet study in French Guiana recorded fruit feeding in both the canopy and lower forest.
It has a blackish head and breast with white spots, a red throat patch, and olive gloss on the back, wings, and central tail feathers.
Marail Guans obtain fruit from both canopy trees and understorey shrubs. A study along French Guiana’s Arataye River examined their food choices.
Digestive contents from43 birds collected during1977–1983 showed a strongly fruit-based diet. Black fruits accounted for over three quarters of consumed quantities.
Seeds passed intact through the relatively weakly muscled gizzard. Plant use changed seasonally, with more fruit types used in the rainy season, linking feeding with potential seed dispersal.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Canopy trees and understorey shrubs support its fruit diet. Retaining food plants and forest habitat also preserves the feeding relationships associated with intact seed passage.