Many authorities lump this species with White-winged Black-tyrant K. aterrimus but Birdlife International class it as a species largely on the basis of plumage variation in the female with a darker cap and whitish rather than pale chestnut rump and upper tail coverts plus other differences. On this basis the species is distributed in the Marañon Valley of northern Peru. See the distribution map at Birdlife International.

The song is also slightly different from K. aterrimus.