Has black head with large white patch over most of crown, broad white malar stripe, upperparts including wings and tail, uniform rich reddish-rufous, breast black, lower abdomen white, flanks brown, iris dark brown, bill black, legs slaty blue to dark slate. Sexes alike. Immature has nape and breast dark brown, abdomen suffused with chesnut-red, base of lower mandible pale.
Endemic Near-threatened
Has black head with large white patch over most of crown, broad white malar stripe, upperparts including wings and tail, uniform rich reddish-rufous, breast black, lower abdomen white, flanks brown, iris dark brown, bill black, legs slaty blue to dark slate. Sexes alike. Immature has nape and breast dark brown, abdomen suffused with chesnut-red, base of lower mandible pale.
15 cm
Taxonomy: Rhipidura matthiae Heinroth, 1902, Mussau Island, in St Matthias Group. Forms a superspecies with R. rufidorsa, R. dahli and R. malaitae, as part of a larger species group that also includes R. teysmanni, R. superflua, R. dedemi. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Distribution:
- Mussau I, in St Matthias Group (Bismarck Archipelago).
Forest, forages low down, especially in gaps and clearings
Resident.
Insect. No other info.
No information