 The dwarf tinamou is found in the arid scrub grasslands, around in elevation, restricted to the Cerrado region of interior southeastern Brazil in Distrito Federal, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo and formerly Paraná.Specimens "were" also known from Paraguay (Misiones) and Argentina (the Río Bermejo in either Chaco or Formosa), but all recent records are from Brazil.It is, however, highly inconspicuous and easily overlooked.