[2] The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Handbook of the Birds of the World taxonomies recognize the four rusty-margined guan subspecies listed in the box to the right.

The Clements taxonomy does not recognize P. s. pseudonyma as separate but includes its population in the nominate subspecies.

The species' upperparts are dark olive to brownish with the eponymous reddish margins on the wing coverts and scapulars.

The face is pale with a supercilium whose color ranges from white to buff or ochre in the different subspecies.

[5] The nominate subspecies of rusty-margined guan is found in Amazonian Brazil south of the Amazon River.

Its nest is a platform made of sticks lined with live and dead leaves, usually built in a tree.