[2] Natterer's slaty antshrike was described by the Austrian ornithologist August von Pelzeln in 1868 and given its current binomial name Thamnophilus stictocephalus.

To avoid confusion the remnant T. punctatus was given its present name of northern slaty antshrike.

Adult females have a rufous crown and reddish yellow-brown upperparts with dark brown scapulars.

Their wings are dark brown with white spots on the coverts and clay colored edges on the flight feathers.

Subspecies T. s. parkeri is found only in the Serranía de Huanchaca in extreme northeastern Bolivia's Santa Cruz Department.

In the Serranía de Huanchaca it occurs on the edges of evergreen forest within grasslands and cerrado.

It hops through vegetation, gleaning prey while reaching or lunging from a perch; it also makes short upward sallies.

[1] It is considered locally fairly common across its range and occurs in large protected areas in both countries.

"[S]ubstantial populations exist within humid-forest regions that are largely intact and under no threat of development.