This fantail is endemic to Mussau Island in Papua New Guinea. Adults have a black head with a white crown patch, contrasting with reddish-brown upperparts.
Adults have a black head with a large white crown patch and broad white malar stripe. The upperparts are rich reddish-rufous; the breast is black, the flanks brown, and the lower abdomen white. The sexes are similar.
It lives in forest and feeds on insects. It forages low down, often in gaps and clearings.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.