This jacamar uses riverine forest and the edges of seasonally flooded forest in the Amazon Basin. Its metallic green plumage and white chin patch are distinctive; it catches flying insects in the air.
It is about 19–24 cm long. Males have bronze-green gloss on the upperparts, throat and breast, small white chin spots and a reddish chestnut belly.
It uses riverine forest, the edges of flooded forest, and areas near openings. From a perch it sallies after flying insects.
The slender bill is entirely black and about 5 cm long. The eyes are dark brown and the legs grey-brown.
Females have a paler, ochre belly than males. In the subspecies mentalis, the white chin patch is larger and the upperparts have a stronger coppery gloss.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.