Glossina palpalis is one of the 23 recognized species of tsetse flies (genus Glossina), and it belongs to the riverine/palpalis group (subgenus Nemorhina).

[1][2] Two subspecies of G. palpalis are recognized: Glossina palpalis is known to be present in 20 countries in western Africa and central Africa, stretching from Senegal to Angola.

[3][1] Data on its occurrence in the peer-reviewed scientific literature for the period 1990–2020 is available for 16 countries;[4] Angola, Burkina Faso,[5] Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali,[6] Nigeria, Senegal and Togo, while reports from Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia and Sierra Leone date back to earlier periods,[3][7] or they have not been published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.

[8][4] Except for a narrow zone of contact where hybridization can occur,[8] they are believed to be geographically separated, with the separation estimated to have occurred during the last glacial period approximately 12,000 years ago.

This article related to members of the fly superfamily Hippoboscoidea is a stub.