This honeyeater has a black body, yellow-orange bare skin around the eye, and a long, curved, two-coloured bill. It feeds on nectar and insects in dense forests in southern New Caledonia.
Its plumage is entirely black and the eye is described as black. Bare skin around the eye is yellow to orange; the long curved bill is grey above and yellow below. The female is smaller than the male.
It forages for nectar and insects in trees, and strips bark with its strong bill to reach insects underneath.
Three nests examined in 2019–2020 in Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue had four layers of plant material. Aerial roots and palm-leaf fibres formed part of the outside, with dry leaves, fern leaves and fine stems layered within.
At two nests in Parc Provincial de la Rivière Bleue in 2019–2020, nestlings received orthopterans, spiders, moths and geckos, as well as nectar and fruit.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.