This bird is known from New Britain’s Whiteman Mountains. It uses bamboo undergrowth in montane forest on limestone.
Dark rusty-brown upperparts and crown contrast with blackish wings and a graduated, pointed tail. A broad black mask runs from the bill to the ear-coverts, with a broad rufous-buff eyebrow above it. The chin, throat, and central belly are pale ochraceous-buff; the breast is richer tawny-orange, and the flanks and undertail-coverts dark cinnamon-brown. Sexes are alike; the male is apparently longer-tailed.
The stomachs of the only two reported specimens contained small insects. The account says the bird forages on the ground and in vegetation up to about 1 m above it.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.