The Brazilian teal was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[3][4] The Brazilian teal is now the only species placed in the genus Amazonetta that was introduced by the German zoologist Hans von Boetticher in 1929.

Drakes distinguish themselves from females in having red beaks and legs, and in having a distinctive pale grey area on the side of its head and neck.

[1][8] Their preferred habitat is a body of freshwater away from the coast with dense vegetation nearby.

Brazilian teal live in pairs or in small groups of up to twenty birds.