[2] The lectotype for this species is ANSP 18264, an adult male collected at Port Essington in the Northern Territory and held in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia.

[6] While there are variations in plumage and size across the range and some intergrading of the races, genetic testing suggests two subspecies split between the western and eastern populations.

[7] Z. l. balstoni Ogilvie-Grant, 1909[8] is found in coastal northwest Australia from Shark Bay (including Dirk Hartog Island), east to Wotjulum (King Sound) and the Northern Kimberley district.

[7] Z. l. luteus Gould, 1843[6] is found in coastal northern Australia from the Northern Kimberley district east, including coastal islands of Melville, Bickerton, Groote Eylandt and Sir Edward Pellew Group, to western Cape York Peninsula (Edward River) and an isolated population in eastern Queensland in the region of Ayr to the mouth of Burdekin River.

They feed on insects including larvae in the outer foliage of small trees or shrubs and occasionally on muddy mangrove flats.