Northern fantail


The northern fantail is a species of bird in the family Rhipiduridae. It is found in New Guinea, Timor, and northern Australia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical mangrove forests.

Taxonomy

The northern fantail was formally described in 1818 as Platyrhynchos rufiventris by the French ornithologist Louis Vieillot. The specific epithet is Modern Latin meaning "red-bellied" from Latin rufus meaning "ruddy" or "rufous" with venter, ventris meaning "belly". Vieillot mistakenly believed that the specimen had been collected in "Nouvelle-Hollande". The type locality has been designated as the island of Timor. The specimen described by Vieillot had probably been collected in 1801 by René Maugé de Cely during the Baudin expedition to Australia. The northern fantail is now placed in the genus Rhipidura that was introduced in 1827 by Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield.
Twenty subspecies are recognised:R. r. tenkatei Büttikofer, J, 1892 – Rote Island R. r. rufiventris – eastern Lesser Sunda Islands R. r. pallidiceps Hartert, EJO, 1904 – Wetar R. r. hoedti Büttikofer, J, 1892 – eastern Lesser Sunda Islands R. r. assimilis Gray, GR, 1858 – Tayandu and Kai islands, southern MoluccasR. r. finitima Hartert, EJO, 1918 – Watubela Islands, southern MoluccasR. r. bouruensis Wallace, AR, 1863 – Buru Island R. r. cinerea Wallace, AR, 1865 – southern Moluccas R. r. obiensis Salvadori, AT, 1876 – Obi Island R. r. vidua Salvadori, AT & Turati, E, 1874 – Kofiau R. r. gularis Müller, S, 1843 – New Guinea, including Yapen and northern Torres Strait Islands R. r. nigromentalis Hartert, EJO, 1898 – Misima and Tagula Island R. r. finschii Salvadori, AT, 1882 – New Britain and Duke of York R. r. setosa – New Hanover, Dyaul Island, and New Ireland R. r. gigantea Stresemann, EFT, 1933 – Bismarck Archipelago R. r. tangensis Mayr, E, 1955 – Bismarck Archipelago R. r. niveiventris Rothschild, LW & Hartert, EJO, 1914 – Admiralty IslandsR. r. mussai Rothschild, LW & Hartert, EJO, 1924 – Mussau Island, in St. Matthias Group R. r. isura Gould, J, 1841 – northern Australia R. r. kordensis Meyer, AB, 1874 – Biak
The subspecies R. r. kordensis has sometimes been considered as a separate species, the Biak fantail.