See text Stilpnia is a genus of Neotropical birds in the tanager family Thraupidae.

Many of these tanagers have a contrasting cap or hood and most have green or gold ear-coverts and throats.

A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2014 found that Tangara was polyphyletic.

[2] In the rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, the genus, Stilpnia, was erected with the black-headed tanager as the type species.

The genus name is from the Ancient Greek στιλπνή/stilpni meaning "glittering" or "glistening".