It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, the Guianas, Peru, Venezuela and possibly Argentina and Paraguay.

[4][3][5] The rufous-throated sapphire was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[6] Gmelin based his description on "Le saphir" that had been described in 1779 by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon and the "Sapphir humming-bird" that had been described in 1781 by the English ornithologist John Latham.

[9][10][4][11] However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World places it in genus Amazilia with the English name rufous-throated hummingbird.

Their underparts are grayish with large glittering blue-green spots on the throat and chest and buffy undertail coverts.

The largest spans from eastern Colombia east through Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern Brazil to the coast, from Colombia southwest through eastern Ecuador into northern Peru, and southwest in a wide swath from northeastern Brazil into northeastern Bolivia.

The third encompasses southeastern Paraguay, northeastern Argentina, and adjacent southwestern Brazil according to the International Ornithological Committee and the Clements taxonomy.

In addition to nectar the species feeds on insects caught by hawking from a perch and also gleaned from leaves or spiderwebs.

[13] The rufous-throated sapphire's breeding season spans from July to January in the Guianas and from August to February in Brazil.

It builds a cup nest of plant fiber lined with soft seed down, often with lichen and bits of leaves on the outside.