It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

[5] Some authors have treated leucogaster and huallagae as a species called the "Marañón slaty-antshrike" and the other two as the "Guianan" or "eastern" slaty(-)antshrike.

Adult males of the nominate subspecies T. p. punctatus have a gray forehead and a black crown.

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

[8][7][9] Males of subspecies T. p. interpositus have a black forehead, crown, and upperparts and dark gray underparts.

Females have a brown back and mostly white underparts with light buffy olive across their breast and on their sides and flanks.

Subspecies T. p. interpositus is found on the east side of the Andes from western Venezuela south into Colombia as far as Caquetá Department.

[8][6][9][7][10][11] The northern slaty antshrike inhabits a variety of forested and wooded landscapes, where it favors the understorey to mid-storey.

It usually forages singly or in pairs and sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks that pass through its territory.

[8][7][10] The northern slaty antshrike's breeding season has not been fully defined but appears to vary geographically.

The species' nest is a cup made from shredded plant fibers lined with fine grass and fungal rhizomorphs and sometimes with green moss on the outside.

[8] Another description is a "series of 9-10 nasal notes, starting very slowly, but accelerating and rising very sharply".

Subspecies T. p. leucogaster and T. p. huallagae "should be considered at risk, as their respective geographical ranges are extremely limited, and the dry-forest habitats which they occupy are under intensive pressure from agricultural development".