The Gnateaters (Conopophagidae) consist of 11 small passerine species in two genera, which occur in South and Central America.

Due to their remote and dim habitat, gnateaters are a little-studied and poorly known family of birds. Gnateaters are birds of the forest understory, bamboo stands, and the forest floor.
The members of the genus Conopophaga feed mostly using two methods; one is to perch above the forest floor until prey is spotted, then lunge down to the ground to snatch it; having landed on the ground to snatch a prey item it will not remain on the forest floor for more than a couple of seconds. The second method used is to glean insects directly from the foliage, trunks, and branches of low vegetation. Very little information is available on the diet of the two Pittasoma, but they are presumably also insectivorous, and have been recorded following army ants swarms.