It is found in Southeast Asia from Myanmar to Sumatra and Borneo.

Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

A study published in 2011 appeared to show that the purple-naped spiderhunter was phylogenetically nested within the genus Arachnothera.

[2] A subsequent 2017 study, conducted by some of the same authors and using additional sequence data, found that the purple-naped spiderhunter occupied a basal position to Arachnothera.

[3] It was formerly placed in the genus Hypogramma until it was realised that the name was preoccupied within Lepidoptera.