Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and moist savanna.

It was described as a new species in 1917 by American zoologist Joel Asaph Allen.

[2] The eponym for the species name "trevori" was John Bond Trevor.

Trevor was a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History, which employed Allen, as well as Chairman of the Committee on African Exploration.

[4] Its range includes parts of the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Uganda.