This sunbird occurs on several Philippine islands. Clements now includes the Luzon and Bohol birds, formerly treated as separate species, within A. pulcherrima. Males on Mindanao are described with metallic blue-green markings and a broad throat patch.
In a comparison of three Aethopyga species on Mindanao, males of this species had the broadest throat patch, the shortest tail and metallic blue and green markings.
On Mindanao it is described as relatively common at forest edges at low to middle elevations, up to 1,500 m. A separate record documents one male feeding at flowers in a tree at 149 m; this is not a species-wide behaviour estimate.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.