[1][2][3] However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) treats it as a subspecies of what it calls the white-backed fire-eye (Pyriglena leuconata).

Males are mostly glossy black with a partially hidden white patch between their scapulars and blackish gray underwing coverts.

Their diet includes a wide variety insects (e.g. orthopterans, beetles, ants, wasps, and adult and larval moths and butterflies), other arthropods such as spiders and centipedes, and small lizards up to about 11 cm (4.3 in) long.

The song of male Tapajos fire-eyes is "a medium-length (e.g. 2 seconds) series of evenly paced short whistles that usually rise and fall slightly in pitch, sometimes also in intensity".

Females sing a higher pitched and longer version and typically start during the male's song.

[6] The IUCN follows HBW taxonomy and so has not separately assessed the western, Tapajos, and East Amazonian fire-eyes.

[8] "Due to its relatively small distribution, it may be more at risk from habitat destruction than other species, though it is more capable than many forest birds of persisting in older second growth.