Band-tailed Antshrike

The band-tailed antshrike is 16 to 17 cm (6.3 to 6.7 in) long; one individual weighed 31 g (1.1 oz). Members of genus Thamnophilus are largish members of the antbird family; all have stout bills with a hook like those of true shrikes. Adult males are almost entirely black except for a hidden white patch between the scapulars, small white spots on the wing coverts, and the eponymous wide white band at the end of the tail. Adult females have a bright deep rufous crown, upperparts, wings, and tail. Their face, throat, and breast are black. The rest of their underparts are gray with a reddish brown cast on the flanks and crissum.

The band-tailed antshrike is found from southern Guyana across Suriname and French Guiana and into northeastern Brazil's Amapá state; there is also one good sight record near Manaus in Brazil's Amazonas state. It primarily inhabits the understorey of evergreen forest though it also occurs higher into the mid-storey. It favors dense vines and other vegetation growing in gaps made by fallen trees and abandoned human-made openings. It also occurs in swampy depressions and in dense riverside thickets. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to 550 m (1,800 ft).

The band-tailed antshrike's diet is not well known but is assumed to be insects and other small arthropods. It forages singly or in pairs and seldom as part of a mixed-species feeding flock. It forages mostly in dense cover on and near the ground up to about 10 m (35 ft) high. It feeds by gleaning from vegetation, vines, branches, and the ground.