Coastal mountains of western and south-western Ecuador (south-western Manabí and western Guayas, and El Oro and Loja) and immediately adjacent north-western Peru (Tumbes, presumably also Piura).
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Watkins's Antpitta (Grallaria watkinsi) [XC275053]
by Robert S. Ridgely from Loja: El Limo, Ecuador (song)
Watkins's Antpitta (Grallaria watkinsi) [XC249619]
by Niels Krabbe from Manab\u00ed: R\u00edo Ayampe, Ecuador (call)
Subspecies
Was for many years treated as a subspecies of Chestnut-crowned Antpitta (Grallaria ruficapilla), but differs markedly in voice, plumage, bare-part colors and habitat, and no intermediate specimens or songs known from area of range overlap in south-western Ecuador. Exact location of type locality uncertain, and originally said to be in Piura (Peru) but subsequently considered more likely to be located in Ecuador.