This leafbird inhabits mountain forests of Borneo. A 2003 taxonomic review treated Chloropsis kinabaluensis as a distinct species after it had long been included as a subspecies of C. cochinchinensis.
In the paper’s account of Chloropsis kinabaluensis, both sexes have a black throat. The male has yellow around the facial mask; the female has green around it and lacks a yellow jaw-line flash.
On Mount Kinabalu, records extend down the submontane slope to about 550 m. Records elsewhere in its range are from montane forest.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.