Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela.
Eastern base of Venezuelan Andes (extreme south-eastern tip of Táchira), eastern Colombia (Norte de Santander southern along base of Andes to western Meta, then generally from central Meta and Guainía) south to eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru and northern Bolivia (south to Beni and Cochabamba), east to southern and south-eastern Venezuela south of R Orinoco (southern and central Amazonas; Bolívar except north-east), the Guianas and most of Amazonian Brazil (east to north-eastern Pará and east-central Mato Grosso).
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Black-faced Dacnis (Dacnis lineata) [XC830665]
by Jerome Fischer from FLONA de Caraj\u00e1s, Brazil (call)
Black-faced Dacnis (Dacnis lineata) [XC105609]
by Fernando Igor de Godoy from 15 km ENE Villa Rica, Pasco dept, Peru (call)
Subspecies
This genus and Cyanerpes were previously regarded as members of a separate family, Coerebidae, but later placed in present family on basis of similarities in skull anatomy; molecular phylogenies indicate that the two genera are sisters and form a monophyletic group with Tersina. Often treated as conspecific with Yellow-tufted Dacnis (Dacnis egregia), but the two differ in plumage and are geographically isolated from each other. Further research is required.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
egregia Sclater, PL, 1855 - Northern Colombia in southern Córdoba (upper R Sinú), Antioquia (lower R Cauca and Nechí Valley), and middle and upper Magdalena Valley from Santander south to Tolima and Huila. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Yellow-tufted Dacnis (Dacnis egregia).
aequatorialis von Berlepsch & Taczanowski, 1884 - Western Ecuador (Esmeraldas south to El Oro). Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Yellow-tufted Dacnis (Dacnis egregia).
lineata (Gmelin, 1789) - Northern and western Amazonia.