Description: A large, stout toad with a thick bony ridge behind the eye connected to a small parotoid gland. The eardrum is visbile. The toes, except for the fourth (longest), are completely webbed, and the tips are slightly widened. The finger tips are expanded into stubby pads, and there is a slight webbing at the bases of the fingers. The top of the head is smooth, and the back has a few scattered warts. All males and about half of the females are uniform light to chocolate brown. The remainder of the females are black or dark pruple with a pattern of yellow spots forming a dense network.

Males: 53 - 78 mm
Females: 89 - 105 mm

Tadpole: The body is oval and the tail is shaped like a narrow leaf with a rounded tip. The colour is dark brown above and on the sides, without markings. Total length reaches 19-20 mm.

Habits and habitat: This arboreal toad lives in primary forest in lowlands below 600 metres above sea level. Adults come to medium sized, clear streams to breed. Breeding is not seasonal, but occurs in spurts or pulses with many individuals coming to breed for one or two nights, then retiring to the forest for several weeks. The males do not form calling aggregations, but some nights there are so many present that they seem to be every where along the bank. Adults feed on a variety of insects, with ants being the dominant component. The tadpoles live in quiet side pools and in masses of dead leaves on the bottoms of streams.

Call: A grating, slurred squawk, rising in pitch slightly from beginning to end.