Adult males have grey heads, white throats, olive-green upperparts, pinkish underparts, and brownish-olive tail and wing feathers.

The whistler is classified as being of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, as its population is thought to be stable and no significant threats to the species are known.

Selayar, an island off the coast of southwestern Sulawesi in Indonesia, was first explored ornithologically by the Dutch biologist Johannes Elias Teijsmann in 1878.

[4] Büttikofer named the species Pachycephala teysmanni to honour its collector, using an alternative spelling of Teijsmann's surname.

[3] Büttikofer erroneously believed that the specimen had been collected in "Macassar, South Celebes"; the type location was corrected to Selayar by the German ornithologist Ernst Hartert in 1896.

In 2016, the Selayar whistler was raised to species status by Josep del Hoyo and Nigel Collar, mainly based on its sexually monomorphic plumage.

Adult males have grey heads from the crown down to the lores, ear-coverts, and nape (back of the neck), with white throats.

It is thought to have a stable population and faces no significant threats, although it has been reported being trafficked in the Indonesian songbird trade.