Drongo Fantail
Photo: Daniel Levitis · CC BY 4.0

Fantails and Silktails

Drongo Fantail

Chaetorhynchus papuensis

LCLeast Concern Endemic to New Guinea (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea)
Family
Fantails and Silktails (Rhipiduridae)
Order
Passeriformes

Overview

The drongo fantail (Chaetorhynchus papuensis), also known as the pygmy drongo, is a species of passerine bird endemic to the island of New Guinea. It is the only species in the genus Chaetorhynchus. The species was long placed within the drongo family Dicruridae, but it differs from others in that family in having twelve rectrices instead of ten. Molecular analysis also supports moving the species out from the drongo family, instead placing it as a sister species to the silktail of Fiji, and both those species in the fantail family Rhipiduridae.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Montane forest of New Guinea including Yule Island.

Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.