This species is hard to mistake with its contrasting black and white patterns without the grey wing coverts and back of the partly sympatric cinereous tit (Parus cinereus).

This species is very patchily distributed and has been considered to be vulnerable to extinction especially because of the scarcity of suitable habitats particularly nest cavities made by woodpeckers.

[2][3] The only pied (black-and-white) tit in India, this species has the wing-coverts, crown, sides of head, chin, throat, a ventral band running down the breast and belly to the vent black.

[6] This species was discovered in the Eastern Ghats near Nellore by T C Jerdon who received a specimen from a local hunter.

[4] The southern population was subsequently noted when Salim Ali collected specimens from the Biligirirangan Hills.

The species occurs in the nearby Kaveri valley area where Parus cinereus stupae is also found.

[9][10] The distribution in western India is larger and better known, ranging mainly in areas of Kutch and extending into parts of Rajasthan and Haryana.

The nest is a pad of fibre and hair (sometimes plucked from roadkill) placed inside a cavity typically on a tree.

The habitat of dense Acacia scrub is severely degraded and fragmented in western India especially due to the collection of old branches with potential nest holes for firewood.