The chorister robin-chat was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[3] Gmelin based his account on the "Muscicapa bicolor" that had been described and illustrated in 1787 by the Swedish naturalist Anders Sparrman.

[4] The combination Muscicapa bicolor had been previously introduced in 1783 by the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert for a different taxon[5] and therefore under the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature Muscicapa bicolor Sparrman, 1787 is a junior homonym and is permanently invalid.

[6][7] The senior homonym Muscicapa bicolor Boddaert, 1783 is a junior synonym of Merops pusillus Müller, PLS, 1776, the little bee-eater.

It is identified by its dark upperparts (the ear coverts and lores are slightly darker than the rest of the face, head, neck and back) and yellow-orange underparts.

The open cup nest is built by the female and is usually placed less than 5 m (16 ft) above the ground in a hole or crevice in a tree trunk.