The stronghold of the whitestarts is northern South America, although a few species range along the Andes as far south as north-western Argentina, while others range north through Central America and as far north as the United States, in the case of the painted whitestart.

The ancestral Myioborus warblers, together with those in the genus Basileuterus seem to have colonised South America early, perhaps before it was linked to the northern continent, and these two genera provide most of the resident warbler species of that region.

Whitestart is the name used for all species in this genus by the International Ornithological Congress,[2] while the Clements checklist, and the American Ornithological Society's North and South American Classification Committeess use "redstart".

Adults have brightly coloured red, orange or yellow bellies.

The sexes are similar, as with most resident tropical warblers, since they pair for life, and have little need of sexual dimorphism, unlike many migratory species where the males need to reclaim territory and advertise for mates each year.