The olive-backed forest robin can be separated from other subspecies of the forest robin by the combination of its olive upperparts, bright orange throat and chest, and cream-yellow belly.

[2] Though this subspecies was described recently, a juvenile appears to have been collected on 11 November 1953 in Tchibanga, Gabon.

The specimen is deposited in the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in Paris.

[4] Comparably, the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group (and consequently IUCN) recommended not following the split, as differences in plumages are relatively small, genetic sampling was considered incomplete, and evidence for intergradation or parapatry is lacking.

[2] The genetic divergence between S. pyrrholaemus and other members of the genus is comparable to that between some other closely related species.