White-gorgeted Fantail
Rhipidura coultasi
Slender, with a long, often fanned tail. Dark above, with a white throat and belly, as well as a boldly white-streaked black chest. Prefers primary and tall secondary forest, but tolerates disturbed areas. Coloration and patterning serve to identify it from other forest fantails on Malaita. Voice is a rising and falling series of squeaky warbles and chirps.
Identification
Compared to the white-winged fantail the white-gorgeted fantail is larger with a grey rather a black back. The inner secondaries are brownish black with a very narrow whitish edge. The lower throat is white rather than black and the drop-shaped spots on the breast are larger.
Taxonomy
The white-gorgeted fantail was formally described in 1931 by the American ornithologist Ernst Mayr based on specimens collected by William Ferrell Coultas and Walter Jakob Eyerdam on the island of Malaita in the Solomon Islands. Mayr considered the taxon as a subspecies of the white-winged fantail and coined the trinomial name Rhipidura cockerelli coultasi, choosing the specific epithet to honour one of the collectors. The white-gorgeted fantail is now considered as a separate species. It is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Rhipidura coultasi
- Authority
- Mayr, 1931
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Rhipiduridae
- Genus
- Rhipidura
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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