Crown and upperparts dark brown or olive-brown, side of head blackish-brown, white eyebrow, wings dusky, tail sooty brown, throat white, breast black with white spots, remainder of underparts dusky-olive-tinned grey-brown to blackish, iris dark brown, bill black, paler base of lower mandible, legs sooty black. Female underparts slightly paler, breast brown, belly uniform grey, breast feather with white shaft streak.
Not Threatened
Crown and upperparts dark brown or olive-brown, side of head blackish-brown, white eyebrow, wings dusky, tail sooty brown, throat white, breast black with white spots, remainder of underparts dusky-olive-tinned grey-brown to blackish, iris dark brown, bill black, paler base of lower mandible, legs sooty black. Female underparts slightly paler, breast brown, belly uniform grey, breast feather with white shaft streak.
16.5-18 cm, 17-18g
Taxonomy: Rhipidura threnothorax Statius Muller, 1843, Lobo, Triton Bay, New Guinea. Forms a group with R. leucothorax and R. maculipectus. Two subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * threnothorax Statius Muller, 1843 - New Guinea (including W Papuan islands of Waigeo, Salawati and Misool) and Aru Is. * fumosa Schlegel, 1871 - Yapen I, in Geelvink Bay (NW New Guinea).
Primary forest, monsoon forest and gallery forest in lowlands and hills, to 1100m, favours particularly dense undergrowth in deep shade, avoiding direct sunlight.
Resident.
Small insect, restricted to understorey. Usually no more than 1 m from ground. Food items gleaned from leaf litter on ground and on branches, vines and foliage. Follows larger ground feeding birds. Does not join mixed feeding flock.
Eggs in Jan, nestling in Jul-Aug, females in breeding condition in May. Males with enlarged gonads in Jul-Aug. Nest a small cup bound with spider web, with tail 25 cm long. Placed in fork on small horizontal branch, less than 0.5 m from ground. No other info.