The Brown-headed Jewel-babbler occurs in lowland and hill forests of northeastern New Guinea. A separate population on Yapen Island is presumed to be this species but is not confirmed.
Adult males are predominantly blue; females are brown to chestnut. The 2026 Ibis paper describes another new species but includes this species' plumage in a comparison table.
The account sources characterize it as diurnal, terrestrial and forest-dwelling, feeding on small invertebrates. The material reviewed here provides limited detailed species-specific behavioural observations.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.