Males have a black head and upperparts with a purple sheen, a white throat, and a red patch on the lower throat and breast. Females are gray-brown. It feeds on fruit and small animals in the forest canopy.
The male has a black head and upperparts with a purple sheen, a dark face, and a white throat. A bright red patch covers the lower throat and breast, and the yellowish-white belly has a central black line. The female has gray-brown upperparts and whitish-gray throat and breast; juveniles resemble females but have darker underparts.
It eats fruit, nectar and pollen, small spiders, and insects. It forages mainly in the upper canopy, alone or in pairs, and nests in cavities during the breeding period.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.