Apparently three, possibly four, disjunct populations. Caribbean lowlands of Colombia (northern Sucre east to Guajira), and east of Andes in Norte de Santander (Cucutá); north-western and northern Venezuela (Zulia; and far eastern Falcón and eastern Yaracuy east through lowland Carabobo and Aragua to Distrito Federal, east to Puerto La Cruz); and recorded also north-eastern and eastern Venezuela (Margarita I; north-eastern Bolívar) and Tobago. Records from Zulia (Cerro Alto del Cedro, La Esperanza) may be referable to Colombian population (to west) or to Venezuelan ones (to east), or may represent a separate population.
 
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Venezuelan Flycatcher (Myiarchus venezuelensis) [XC225980]
by Oscar Laverde from Canoabo area, Carabobo, Venezuela (call)
Venezuelan Flycatcher (Myiarchus venezuelensis) [XC445718]
by id from Ecoparque Los Besotes, Valledupar, Cesar, Colombia (call)
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Formerly treated as a subspecies of Short-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus ferox). Analyses of morphological characters and mitochondrial DNA indicate close affinities with that species and also with Sooty-crowned Flycatcher (Myiarchus phaeocephalus) and Panama Flycatcher (Myiarchus panamensis), but precise relationships within that group unclear. Tobago birds appear darker dorsally, but difference slight and constancy of this character untested. Subspecific separation as insulicola unwarranted at present.