This antbird is patchily distributed in Brazil and reaches extreme southern Guyana in the north. Its three subspecies occupy different areas.
Males are blackish-grey, greyer below, with a white shoulder patch and narrow white tips on the wings and outer tail. Females have olive-grey upperparts and tawny-buff underparts.
It inhabits moist lowland forest, usually near water, and forages on or close to the ground for insects and spiders, often in pairs or small groups.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.