[5][6] The American Ornithological Society, the International Ornithological Committee, and the Clements taxonomy assign these three subspecies to the olive-throated parakeet:[6][3][7] BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) treats E. n. astec as the species "Aztec parakeet" with E. n. vicinalis as a subspecies of it.

The "Jamaican" olive-throated parakeet E. n. nana is the nominate subspecies; it is 22 to 26 cm (8.7 to 10 in) long and weighs about 72 to 85 g (2.5 to 3.0 oz).

Adults of the nominate subspecies have a mainly dark green head and upperparts with yellowish ear coverts and rump.

Their wings are mostly green with dull blue on the upper side of the flight feathers and gray on their underside.

Their bill is browish horn color with a paler tip, their iris yellow to orange, and their legs blackish gray.

E. n. astec is found on the Caribbean side from Veracruz through Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica into western Panama's Bocas del Toro Province.

It also inhabits the interior and edges of humid forest, riparian areas, scrublands, and more open landscapes such as plantations, clearings with trees, and gardens.

[4][9][10] The nominate subspecies of the olive-throated parakeet makes some movements between moist and dryer habitats in response to the availability of food.

The other two subspecies are generally considered to be year-round residents, but E. n. astec visits Caye Caulker off Belize in winter.

[4] The nominate subspecies of the olive-throated parakeet nests between March and June in Jamaica and somewhat earlier in the Dominican Republic.

[2] It is locally common to abundant and occurs in several protected areas, though some sub-populations have declined due to habitat loss.