About Rhipidura dryas Gould, 1843
The Arafura fantail (Rhipidura dryas), sometimes called the wood fantail, was formally described by Gould in 1843. Its range covers the Lesser Sunda Islands, the northern coast of Australia from the Kimberley region to the western side of Cape York Peninsula, including subcoastal areas of the Northern Territory Top End, and southern New Guinea. This species is closely related to the rufous fantail, and has been separated taxonomically from it. Apart from a small area of overlap in the eastern Moluccas, the two species have completely separate geographic ranges. Compared to the rufous fantail, the Arafura fantail is generally duller in overall colour, and its rufous colouring is less extensive. This fantail most commonly lives in mangroves and other coastal woodlands, as well as primary and secondary lowland forest. It tolerates a broad range of elevations, growing found from near sea level up to around 2000 metres in the Timor portion of its distribution.
