The Chestnut-belted Gnateater is distributed from the Guianas to Peru through the Amazon Basin except in the north and south extremities.
It is found on or close to the ground in the shady interior of terra firme forest.
The male is distinctive with a long white tuft behind the eye, a chestnut crown, a black throat and sides of the head and a rufous breast. The female, as shown here, is generally paler and lacks the black on the face and throat. The lack of buff dots on the wing coverts indicates that this is a female Chestnut-belted Gnateater rather than the female Ash-throated Gnateater C. peruviana which is also found in this part of western Amazonia.
There are illustration in HBW, Volume 8, Page 736, 743 and 744 and in Ridgely & Tudor, Volume 2, Plate 28 (male only).