[2] The ocellated antbird was formally described in 1861 by the American amateur ornithologist George Newbold Lawrence and given the binomial name Phlogopsis mcleannani (misspelled as Meleannani).

[5] Ridgway considered that the species was related to the genus Phlegopsis (the bare-eyes) but that it differed in having a longer tail, rounded nostrils and a few other characters.

[6] The ocellated antbird is the only member of its genus and has three subspecies, the nominate P. m. mcleannani (Lawrence, 1860), P. m. saturatus (Richmond, 1896), and P. m. pacificus (Hellmayr, 1924).

Adults have a brown-gray crown, a rufous-brown nape, bright blue bare skin around the eye, and black cheeks and throat.

Subspecies P. m. saturatus is the northernmost, found from northern and eastern Honduras south through Nicaragua and the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica into Bocas del Toro Province in extreme western Panama.

The nominate subspecies is found from central and eastern Panama into northwestern and western Colombia as far as Valle del Cauca Department.

It typically forages in pairs or family groups, perching within about 1 m (3 ft) of the ground, often near the front of the ant swarm, and sallying after prey.

Their nest is a cup made of twigs, bits of vine, and leaves held together with fungal rhizomorphs, and is typically placed on the ground between buttresses of a tree.

The ocellated antbird's primary song is a loud "high, thin series of whistles that rises then falls, with latter notes gaining in harsh quality"[7] that has been written as "peee-peee-pee-peepee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-eer-eer"[12].