 Its natural habitats are dry savannah, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, and rural gardens.The lemon-breasted canary was identified as species in 1960 by Clancey and Lawson from a type obtained near Panda, in Inhambane Province of southern Mozambique.Research involving mitochondrial DNA analysis suggests that this species along with "S. leucopygia", "S. mozambicus", and "S. dorsostriatus" belong in a separate genus, "Ochrospiza", as they have been revealed to be only distantly related to other African members of the present genus, "Serinus".