Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Côte dIvoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania [United Republic of], Uganda.
Sierra Leone and Guinea east to Ghana; and south-western Nigeria east to western Kenya, and south to Cabinda (northern Angola), central Zaire, western Rwanda and north-western Tanzania.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Yellow-spotted Barbet (Buccanodon duchaillui) [XC419616]
by Brendan Sloan from Kakum National Park, Ghana (call)
Yellow-spotted Barbet (Buccanodon duchaillui) [XC503400]
by Andres Angulo Rubiano from Mbam et Djerem National Park, second camp, forest transect, ecotone savanna-forest, Cameroon (song)
Subspecies
Genus related both to Pogoniulus and to Tricholaema. Larger than former, similar in size to latter but lacks bill "teeth", and vocally distinct from both genera. No close relatives. Birds from southern Congo described as subspecies gabriellae, but now considered indistinguishable. Populations at higher elevations are larger, but insufficient difference to warrant any racial separation.