[1][2][3] Giant eland Common eland Greater kudu Mountain nyala Bongo Sitatunga Cape bushbuck Northern bushbuck Lowland nyala Lesser kudu In a 2007 study, 19 genetically-based groupings were found, some of which do not correspond to previously described subspecies; eight of these were grouped under the nominate taxon.

Former subspecies included as synonyms to the nominate taxon are phaleratus, bor and dodingae.

Bushbucks in general are smaller are than other tragelaphines, with a mainly red or yellow-brown ground color.

The nominate taxon occurs in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana and in the Niger Basin in Nigeria as far east as the Cross River, south of the Bamenda Highlands through Cameroon, Chad, the Central African Republic to the Nile in South Sudan and northern Uganda, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo to northern Angola.

[4] It is common across its broad geographic distribution and is found in wooded savannas, forest-savanna mosaics, rainforests, in montane forests and semi-arid zones.