This roughly 13 cm antbird is widespread in Amazonia. Male and female plumage differ, and markings also vary among subspecies.
The male is gray with a blackish back scaled in white and a white terminal tail band. The throat is gray or black depending on subspecies. Females vary: one form is rufous-brown with a scaled black back, while another has an unscaled brown back and gray underparts.
It forages in the forest understory. The account describes it as fairly common across Amazonia, with Andean foothill records up to 900 m.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.