[2] The ferruginous antbird was described by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1822 and given the binomial name Myiothera ferruginea.

Their wings are brownish black with buffish edges on the flight feathers and wide white tips on the coverts.

Females are similar to males but are paler, with olive streaks on the crown, rufous tips on the wing coverts, and no white patch between the scapulars.

Subadult males resemble adult females with the interscapular patch, wide buff edges on the crown feathers, a buff-tinged supercilium, and paler underparts.

It also inhabits bamboo in secondary woodland, in openings made by fallen trees, and in pure stand-alone patches.

It gleans prey from live leaves and stems by reaching, lunging, or making short flights from a perch.

The one known nest was a basket made from strands of moss hanging from a fork in a fern leaf only 1 m (3 ft) above the ground.