White-spotted fantail
species of bird
The white-spotted fantail or spot-breasted fantail (Rhipidura albogularis) is a small passerine bird. It is found in forest, scrub and cultivation in southern and central India. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the white-throated fantail.
Taxonomy
The white-spotted fantail was formally described in 1831 by the French naturalist René Lesson under the binomial name Muscicapa (Muscylva) albogularis. It is now one of over 60 fantails placed in the genus Rhipidura that was introduced in 1827 by the naturalists Nicholas Vigors and Thomas Horsfield.
Two subspecies are recognised:
R. a. albogularis (Lesson, RP, 1831) – peninsular India
R. a. vernayi (Whistler, 1931) – southeast India
Description
The adult white-spotted fantail is about 19 cm (7.5 in) long. It has a dark fan-shaped tail, edged in white, and white supercilium and throat. Birds are mainly slate grey above, with a black eye mask, and a white throat and eyebrow.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3429500. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1831, 1827 and 1931.
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This entry incorporates text from “White-spotted fantail” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.