Ferruginous-backed Antbird

The ferruginous-backed antbird is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 24 to 29 g (0.85 to 1.0 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a bright chestnut crown, upperparts, and flight feathers. Their wing coverts are black with wide pale cinnamon-buff tips. Their tail is rufous-brown. Their eye is surrounded by bare blue skin. Their face, throat, breast, and upper belly are black with a white line separating them from the chestnut of the upperparts. The center of their belly is gray and their flanks, lower belly, and crissum are reddish yellow-brown. Adult females are similar but with a white chin and throat, a light gray (not black) belly, and a paler crissum. Both sexes of subspecies M. f. elutus have paler lower underparts than the nominate and females have a whiter belly.

The nominate subspecies of the ferruginous-backed antbird is found from the Caroní River in far eastern Venezuela east through the Guianas. Its range extends into northeastern Amazonian Brazil north of the Amazon between the Branco River and Negro River. Subspecies M. f. elutus is found in Brazil south of the Amazon between the Madeira and Tapajós rivers and south to the Roosevelt and upper Dos Marmelos rivers. The species primarily inhabits terra firme evergreen forest and nearby mature secondary forest, but also savanna woodland on sandy soils.

The ferruginous-backed antbird's diet has not been detailed but is known to include insects and spiders. Primarily pairs, but also individuals and family groups, forage almost entirely on the ground and rarely up to about 1.5 m (5 ft) above it. They usually walk, and sometimes hop, on the ground, along fallen logs, and among the branches of fallen trees. They capture most prey by gleaning from leaf litter, stems and branches, and the underside of live leaves; they also regularly jump to take prey from higher surfaces. They often follow army ant swarms, usually for only a short time.