This antwren inhabits humid lowland forest in northeastern South America and searches for insects in the canopy and subcanopy. Males and females have different head patterns.
The male has a black crown and eye stripe, a gray body, and white tips on the wings and tail. The female has white dots on the black crown, a white throat and upper breast, and pale buff breast sides and flanks.
It searches leaves and branches for insects in the canopy and subcanopy, reported at about 20–40 m above ground. Oiseaux.net also classifies it as a sedentary lowland-forest species.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.