Thicket Antpitta

The thicket antpitta is 13 to 16.5 cm (5.1 to 6.5 in) long; four individuals weighed between 38 and 44 g (1.3 and 1.6 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a buff loral patch and buff around their eye. Their crown, nape, and ear coverts are dull slate gray. Their upperparts are dull slate gray that becomes olive by the rump; their back has faint pale buffy streaks. Their uppertail coverts and tail are russet brown. Their wings are mostly dark olive-brown with paler rufescent brown outer webs on the primaries. Their throat is white or buffy white. Their breast is ochraceous with black streaks, their belly white, and their sides, flanks, and undertail coverts unstreaked ochraceous to rufous-tawny. Subspecies M. d. flammulatus is overall darker than the nominate, with more richly colored wings and heavier black streaks on the breast. M. d. barbacoae is slightly darker overall than the nominate, with chestnut edges on the primaries and heavier black streaks on the breast. All subspecies have a dark brown iris, a blackish bill with a pale base to the mandible, and pale pinkish gray legs and feet.

The thicket antpitta has a disjunct distribution. The nominate subspecies is found on the Caribbean slope from eastern Honduras south through Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Subspecies M. d. flammulatus is found only in western and central Bocas del Toro Province in western Panama. M. d. barbacoae is found from eastern Darién Province in eastern Panama south along the Pacific slope of Colombia to western Nariño Department. The species inhabits the edges of forest, stream corridors, young secondary forest, and openings in mature forest such as those caused by fallen trees, all areas characterized by dense tangled thickets. It also occurs in cacao and banana plantations. In elevation it occurs up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Colombia and most of Central America though only to 900 m (3,000 ft) in Costa Rica.

The thicket antpitta's diet has not been detailed but apparently is mostly arthropods and perhaps includes small vertebrates such as frogs. It is usually seen singly as it forages while hopping and walking on the forest floor and downed logs.