Scaled Antbird

The scaled antbird is 12 to 14 cm (4.7 to 5.5 in) long and weighs 10.5 to 11 g (0.37 to 0.39 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a black crown with white spots along its side, a wide white supercilium, and a black stripe through the eye on an otherwise black-spotted white face. Their upperparts are black with white spots. Their wings are black and their wing coverts black with wide white tips. Their tail is barred with black and white. Their throat and underparts are white with black spots. Females have the same pattern but different colors than males. Their crown and eye stripe are dark brown. Their upperparts are dark brown with buff spots, their wing coverts are dark brown with buff tips, and their tail is barred with dark brown and buff. Their flanks and crissum are pale cinnamon. Males of subspecies D. s. stictocorypha are similar to the nominate but with white spots in the center of their crown and a darker gray belly. There appears to be some overlap between the two subspecies.

The scaled antbird is found in eastern and southeastern Brazil The nominate subspecies occurs in the eastern parts of the states of Pernambuco, Alagoas, and Bahia. Subspecies D. s. stictocorypha occurs further south, from eastern Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo south into extreme northeastern Santa Catarina. The species inhabits the dense understorey of evergreen forest and secondary woodland. In some areas it often occurs in bamboo thickets but just as often away from them, and it is the only member of its genus that is not closely tied to bamboo. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 1,100 m (3,600 ft); it tends to be at higher elevations in the northern part of its range.

The scaled antbird feeds mostly on a variety of arthropods. It typically forages individually, in pairs, and in family groups, usually within about 4 m (15 ft) of the ground though sometimes as high as 6 m (20 ft). It sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks that pass through its territory, and the nominate occasionally follows army ant swarms. It forages in dense vegetation, hitching itself up trunks and vines and flicking its wings. It also forages while moving through downed branches, leaf litter, and other debris on the ground. It gleans prey primarily by reaching or lunging from a perch, feeding mostly from live vegetation. It also takes prey with short flights to the substrate.