This small woodpecker ranges from southeastern Brazil south into Argentina. It occurs at forest edges and in secondary forest, as well as in urban parks and gardens, and mainly eats ant larvae and pupae.
The back and wings are brown, while the underside is white with black bars.
It uses forest edges, gallery forest and secondary forest, and is also recorded in city parks and gardens. Its diet is mainly ant larvae and pupae, along with other insects.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.