This large hummingbird is endemic to Brazil. Orange throat and neck markings with a dark central stripe, and its bill shape, help identify it. A study site in southeastern Atlantic rainforest documented flower feeding.
The upperparts are brownish green and the head is dark. The orange throat and neck have a dark central stripe, and the face has a black stripe. Males have a straight bill with a hooked tip; females have a gently curved bill. Females and juveniles have a smaller throat patch.
At one southeastern Brazilian Atlantic-rainforest site, it fed at flowers. The visited plants were mainly epiphytes and herbs, with bromeliads and heliconias as staple food plants.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.