Black Fantail
Rhipidura atra Salvadori, 1876
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Rhipidura atra, Amsui, West Papua, Indonesia, 2015-08-27 (iNaturalist).
Nigel Voaden · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The black fantail (Rhipidura atra) is a species of bird in the family Rhipiduridae. It is endemic to the highlands of New Guinea and the nearby island of Waigeo. The species was named by Italian naturalist Tommaso Salvadori in 1876, who gave it the specific name atra for the Latin word for dull black. Two subspecies have been described, the widespread nominate race R. a. atra, and R. a. vulpes of the Cyclops Mountains. R. a. vulpes was described in 1931 by Ernst Mayr, who named it from the rufous colour of foxes. Whithin the genus Rhipidura the closest relative of the black fantail is uncertain, a 2009 study of the genetics of the family found 6 well defined clades within the fantails but could not place this species with any of them. The black fantail is named from the colour of the male, which has almost entirely black plumage, except for a small white supraorbital spot above each eye, and some white on the underwing coverts.
Wikipedia contributors, Black fantail; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:13:59.764119+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Rhipidura atra Salvadori, 1876
- Name authority
- Salvadori, 1876
- Common name
- Black Fantail
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Rhipiduridae
- Genus
- Rhipidura
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyRhipiduridae Sundevall, 1872
- genusRhipidura Vigors & Horsfield, 1827
- speciesRhipidura atra Salvadori, 1876
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Rhipidura. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| White-throated FantailRhipidura albicollis (Vieillot, 1818) | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rhipidura albiscapa Gould, 1840 | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bismarck FantailRhipidura dahli Reichenow, 1897 | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Streak-breasted FantailRhipidura dedemi Oort, 1911 | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Brown-capped FantailRhipidura diluta Wallace, 1864 | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Brown FantailRhipidura drownei Mayr, 1931 | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rusty-bellied FantailRhipidura teysmanni Büttikofer, 1892 | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sooty Thicket FantailRhipidura threnothorax S. Muller, 1843 | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pohnpei FantailRhipidura kubaryi Finsch, 1876 | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rhipidura nigritorquis Vigors, 1831 | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Kadavu FantailRhipidura personata E. P. Ramsay, 1875 | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rufous FantailRhipidura rufifrons (Latham, 1802) | RhipiduridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=562730 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4SB9R. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.