Panama from Caribbean slope in Bocas del Toro eastern across both slopes (from foothills of Veraguas) to Colombia (northern base of western Andes, lower Cauca Valley and east to middle Magdalena Valley from Santander south to northern Tolima, and on western slope of eastern Andes) and southern along Pacific coast to south-western Ecuador (Guayas, El Oro, western Loja) and adjacent north-western Peru (Tumbes).
Lemon-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus icteronotus) [XC71269]
by Martin St-Michel from 17km NW Pedro Vicente Maldonado, Pichincha, Ecuador (song)
Lemon-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus icteronotus) [XC120657]
by Oscar Humberto Mar\u00edn G\u00f3mez from Playa de Oro, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, Ecuador (call)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Usually treated as conspecific with Flame-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus flammigerus), and, despite striking visual differences, genetic differences between the two taxa apparently minimal. Also, the two now apparently interbreed freely in western Andes of Colombia (along a relatively narrow but apparently stable band at middle elevations near crest of, or on, upper Pacific slope), where recent deforestation has permitted them to expand ranges and to meet. However, differences between them seem comparable to, and visually much more obvious than, those between Scarlet-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus passerinii) and Cherrie's Tanager (Ramphocelus costaricensis), which are now regarded as two separate species. No subspecies of present species described, but females and immatures from western Ecuador are more olive, less brown or grey, above than those farther north, and one individual from Panama and one from Ecuador showed a molecular-sequence divergence of 2·2%, approaching the levels at which many full species are recognized. Further research required.
Considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Flame-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus flammigerus).