They have enlarged shiny whitish or bluish-grey lower mandibles, which are pointed upwards in display.

The nest is a cup built by the female of plant materials such as moss, rootlets, and strips of large leaves like banana or Heliconia, and is often in a fairly open site in a tree.

The female usually lays pale blue eggs, with grey, brown or lavender spots, and the young stay in the nest for only about 12 days.

Ramphocelus tanagers hunt at forest edges or in second growth, taking insects in flight or picking them from leaves.

[2] The type species was designated as the Brazilian tanager by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1855.