This small monarch flycatcher occurs in the Bismarck Archipelago. Males are glossy black with a purple-blue sheen, while females show gray and chestnut tones. It forages low in forest and may join mixed-species flocks.
Males of the nominate form are black with a dark blue upper-body sheen tinged purple. Females have a dark-gray head, dark chestnut back, gray throat and chest, a pale center to the belly, and rusty-brown flanks.
The nominate form occurs in primary forest, forest edges, scrub, secondary forest, and mangroves. It searches for insects in the lower forest, hides in dense cover when alarmed, and sometimes joins mixed-species flocks. Breeding information is sparse; a recorded nest was a mossy cup on a large leaf 0.5–1 m above the ground.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.