[2] The black-headed antthrush has two subspecies, the nominate F. n. nigricapillus (Ridgway, 1893) and F. n. destructus (Hartert, EJO, 1898).

Their face and throat are black with a ring of bluish white bare skin around the eye.

Subspecies F. n. destructus is found from central Chocó Department in Colombia south on the Pacific slope into Ecuador as far as eastern Guayas and northwestern Azuay provinces.

[8] The black-headed antthrush feeds primarily on a variety of arthropods, mostly insects but including spiders, and also tiny reptiles and amphibians.

[3][5][7] The black-headed antthrush's breeding season varies geographically, from including April and May in Costa Rica and spanning at least December to March in Colombia.

One nest was a shallow cup made of leaf petioles and dead leaves placed deep down in a hollow palm stump.

The black-headed antthrush's song is "a trill of c. 10 notes per second at 1·5–2 kHz, first falling, then rising in pitch".