[3][4] The Hispaniolan mango was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Trochilus dominicus.

[5] Linnaeus based his description on the "colibry de S. Domingue" that was described and illustrated by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.

BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) treated the two as separate species as early as 2003 and called A. dominicus the "Hispaniolan mango".

The chin and throat are metallic green and the rest of the underparts velvety black with a bluish tinge.

The tail is reddish violet with broad black marks near the end; the outermost feathers have white tips.

It inhabits a variety of both moist and dry landscapes including clearings, gardens, shade coffee plantations, secondary forest, and coastal shrublands.

The nest is a cup of soft plant fibers bound with spider silk and covered on the outside with lichens and bark flakes.