[4] It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

[5] The black-headed parrot was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.

[6][7] Linnaeus based his account on the "white-breasted parrot" that had been described and illustrated in 1751 by the English naturalist George Edwards in his multivolume work "A Natural History of Uncommon Birds".

[9] The generic name combines the genus Pionus that was introduced by Johann Wagler in 1832 with the Ancient Greek -itēs meaning "resembling".

Their lower breast and belly are creamy white and their flanks, thighs, and vent area are apricot yellow.

Subspecies P. m. pallidus is similar to the nominate but has a whiter breast and belly and a paler rufous-orange band on the hindneck.

[11][12][13][14] The nominate subspecies of the black-headed parrot is found from southeastern Colombia east through Venezuela and the Guianas and south into Brazil to the Amazon River.

Subspecies P. m. pallidus is found east of the Andes in southern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, and northeastern Peru.

[3][11] The species inhabits the canopy, clearings, and edges of humid lowland tropical forest of both terra firme and várzea types.

[11] Flocks eat palm leaves, apparently for their mineral content, and do not visit clay licks.

It includes April and May in Venezuela, October and November in Suriname, and spans from December to February in French Guiana.