The Painted Manakin was described from the Andean foothills of northern Peru. Its plumage is very similar to a related tepui form, while the description emphasizes vocal differences.
Adult males have green upperparts, a bright red cap, heavily striped underparts, and a broken yellow band on the upper breast. Females have green upperparts, no red cap, and paler underpart streaking.
Its song is a single rising note without undertones, unlike the falling calls of related forms. Researchers used that distinctive voice to identify a species that had gone undetected for years.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.