The rufous-capped antshrike (Thamnophilus ruficapillus) is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds".

[3] The rufous-capped antshrike was described by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816 and given its current binomial name Thamnophilus ruficapillus.

Adult males of the nominate subspecies T. r. ruficapillus have a chestnut crown and a buffy gray face and throat with faint dusky mottling and bars.

Adult females are much like males but have a cinnamon-brown crown, a rufous-brown tail with no white, and faint or no barring on their breast.

Their breast and sides are buffy with black bars, their belly buffish white, and their flanks and undertail coverts a mix of light buff and gray.

Males of subspecies T. r. subfasciatus have a darker rufous cap than the nominate, a darkish gray face, throat, and upperparts, and buff-tinged white underparts that are barred from breast to belly.

The subspecies are found thus:[10][11][12][13] The rufous-capped antshrike inhabits a variety of landscapes that differ geographically.

In the Andes from southern Bolivia into Argentina it continues in those habitats but also occurs in scrub and forest along watercourses in more open areas.

In lower elevations in Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina it shuns the interior of forest and more often occurs in isolated patches of shrubs and small trees.

[10][11][12][13] The rufous-capped antshrike is presumed to be a year-round resident in most of its range, but some individuals in the far south may move north in the austral winter.

It hops through vegetation, gleaning prey from leaves, stems, vines, and branches by reaching and sometimes making short upward sallies from a perch.

The IUCN follows HBW taxonomy and so has separately assessed the "northern" and "southern" rufous-capped antshrikes.

Its "[a]bility to utilize shrubby thickets, forest edge and other forms of second growth renders [the] species of low sensitivity to disturbance".