Its main range is western Colombia and western Ecuador. The male has a glittering purple throat; the female lacks that purple throat. Residency in eastern Panama is presumed from two female specimens.
The male has green upperparts, a glittering purple throat, pale underparts, and a short tail with cinnamon-rufous tones and a dark band near the tip. The female lacks the purple throat and has cinnamon and dark markings on the tail.
It feeds mainly on nectar, including high in flowering trees, and also catches small insects and other arthropods by flying out from a perch. In Colombia it appears to move higher during breeding and lower outside that season.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.