It is found in the Atlantic Forest of south eastern Brazil.

Males have a bright red crown, which the females lack.

The kinglet manakin was described by the German zoologist Carl Wilhelm Hahn in 1819 and given the binomial name Pipra regulus.

[2] The species is now placed in the genus Machaeropterus that was introduced by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1854.

[4] Like many other manakins, the males cluster in a lek to attract females.