It was formerly considered conspecific with the other three species of Spindalis, with the common name stripe-headed tanager.

The spindalises were traditionally considered aberrant tanagers of the family Thraupidae, but like the equally enigmatic bananaquit (Coereba flaveola), they are formally treated as incertae sedis (place uncertain) among the nine-primaried oscines until the recognition of the family Spindalidae.

The male is brightly colored with a black and white horizontally striped head and contrasting burnt orange throat, breast and nape.

She is olive-grey above and greyish-brown below, with a slight orange wash on the breast, rump, and shoulders.

It is a rare visitor of extreme southern Florida, where the subspecies S. z. zena successfully bred in 2009.