The blue-throated roller was formally described in 1819 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot under its current binomial name Eurystomus gularis.
[3] Vieillot based his description on a specimen in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris which he mistaken believed had been collected in "Australasie"; the type locality has been designated as Senegal.
[5] Two subspecies are recognized:[6] The blue-throated roller is a dumpy, large-headed, thick-necked bird that frequents the tops of trees.
[8] The blue-throated roller occurs in western sub-Saharan Africa from Guinea to Cameroon, south to northern Angola, and west to south-eastern Uganda.
In the late afternoon the birds gather in small flocks, often mixed with broad-billed rollers, to feed on ants and termites which emerge after a rainfall.