[2] The jet antbird was described by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1858 and given its current binomial name Cercomacra nigricans.

Juvenile males are dull brown with narrow white tips on the tail feathers.

They hop and flutter-fly among vine tangles and other dense vegetation and usually take prey by gleaning and lunging from a perch and also with short flutter-flights.

[5][6][7][8][9] The jet antbird's breeding season has not been defined but apparently includes December to March in Colombia.

One nest was a cup made of dry grasses suspended from a branch fork low in a bush.

It held two pinkish eggs heavily marked with reddish brown and lilac.

It is found in several protected areas, and its "ability to exploit a variety of second-growth habitats renders it less vulnerable to disturbance than are many antbirds".