New Zealand Fantail
Rhipidura fuliginosa (Sparrman, 1787)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The New Zealand fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa) is a small insectivorous bird, the only species of fantail in New Zealand. It has four subspecies: R. f. fuliginosa in the South Island, R. f. placabilis in the North Island, R. f. penita in the Chatham Islands, and the now-extinct R. f. cervina formerly on Lord Howe Island. It is also known by its Māori names, pīwakawaka, tīwakawaka or piwaiwaka, and the Chatham Island subspecies by the Moriori name tchitake; the common pied morph is also known as pied fantail (not to be confused with the Malaysian or Philippine pied fantails), and the uncommon dark morph is also known as black fantail (not to be confused with the black fantail of New Guinea). The species has been considered by many to be conspecific (the same) as the grey fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) of Australia and New Caledonia; however, due to significant differences in its calls, many authorities now treat it as a separate species.
Wikipedia contributors, New Zealand fantail; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:17:42.808637+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Rhipidura fuliginosa (Sparrman, 1787)
- Name authority
- (Sparrman, 1787)
- Common name
- New Zealand 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 fuliginosa (Sparrman, 1787)
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 |
| Black FantailRhipidura atra Salvadori, 1876 | 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 |
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=562740 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:794YC. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.