The Chestnut-backed Antbird is described as an understory bird of lowland tropical forest from Honduras to Ecuador. The committee page describes five subspecies in two broad groups distinguished in part by white wing spots.
The page describes a northern group without white wing spots and a southern group with them. Females of the southern group are described as having brighter chestnut underparts.
The Chestnut-backed Antbird is described as an antbird of the understory in tropical lowland forest.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.