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

The nominate subspecies S. r. rufigularis has a dark brown face, sometimes with paler lores and supercilium.

Its throat and malar are dull orange-rufous that darkens and becomes richer on its upper breast, which has narrow pale streaks.

The rest of its breast is darker still and becomes less chestnut to the rich reddish brown belly and flanks.

It has a paler throat than the nominate and a darker upper breast with wider rufous streaks.

The short-billed leaftosser's song is "a high-pitched fast series of notes" that successively descend, ascend and accelerate, and become level and slower.

[1] It is generally locally uncommon to rare though fairly common in Venezuela, and occurs in many protected areas.