It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, and possibly Ecuador.

[3][4][5] The green-tailed goldenthroat was at one time placed in the monotypic genus Psilomycter, then in Smaragdites which had priority; the latter was later merged into Polytmus.

Its throat and breast are whitish thickly spotted with green, and the outermost tail feathers have white tips.

[7] The nominate subspecies of green-tailed goldenthroat is found in the Guianas and north-central Brazil from the lower Negro and Madeira rivers east into the states of Pará and Amapá.

[5] The species inhabits the edges of sand-soil forest and sandy savanna with scattered small trees and stands of bushes.

[7] The green-tailed goldenthroat is primarily a "trap-line" feeder, visiting a circuit of a flowering plants, mostly Melastomataceae, for nectar.

The nest is a cup of fine plant fibers and spider silk built in a fork of a low shrub.