This species lives in premontane and lower montane moist forest and is found in arboreal bromeliads, on low vegetation, and under rotten trees in the ground. It prefers intact forest and can be found on forest edge, but not in degraded habitats. Breeding takes place by direct development and the species is not dependent upon water.

This species is known from three locations in Guatemala and Honduras defined as such by extensive and ongoing habitat loss: (1) the eastern mountains of the Atlantic versant of Guatemala (mountains of Sierra de Caral); (2) Parque Nacional Cerro Azul in Copán Department, Honduras; and (3) Parque Nacional Cusuco and the surrounding Merendón Mountains west of San Pedro Sula in Cortés Department, Honduras. In Guatemala, the species is considered to occur only in the Sierra Caral (C. Vásquez-Almazán pers. comm. 2014), but it is expected to occur slightly more widely in Honduras, particularly in Santa Barbara Department (J.M. Solís and F. Castañeda pers. comm. March 2019). Its known elevational range is 1,200–1,600 m asl. Its extent of occurrence (EOO) is 1,706 km².

Conservation Actions In-Place
In Guatemala, this species occurs in Reserva Protector de Manantiales Sierra Caral. In Honduras, it occurs in Parque Nacional Cusuco, Parque Nacional Cerro Azul, and Reserva de Merendón. Parque Nacional Cusuco is one of the few areas of Honduras that has regular patrolling by park rangers supported by Panthera and Operation Wallacea; the rangers patrol the southern portion of the park and effectively report any illegal activities (F. Castañeda pers. comm. March 2019). Operation Wallacea has been conducting annual biodiversity monitoring in Parque Nacional El Cusuco since 2005 (J. Kolby pers. comm. March 2019). UNAH-VS and the environmental division of San Pedro Sula municipality are conducting biodiversity monitoring of Merendón water production forest and building capacity in the area, and has plans to extend this to Parque Nacional El Cusuco (L. Herrera pers. comm. March 2019). The municipality of San Pedro Sula has an active ranger team protecting the watersheds and fighting forest fires in the Merendón water production forest and the southern portion of Parque Nacional El Cusuco (L. Herrera and F. Castañeda pers. comm. March 2019).

Conservation Needed
Improved enforcement and management of the national parks and the elimination of incentives to convert forest (e.g., Decreto 37-2016) is urgently needed to halt anthropogenic land use change in the national parks and reserves of Honduras (Honduras Red List Assessment Workshop March 2019). There is a need for improved protection in Sierra Caral in Guatemala. Proactive, precautionary steps should be taken to detect the arrival of Bsal in Mesoamerica and to establish a baseline by including the swabbing of salamanders encountered during routine amphibian monitoring activities (Honduras and Guatemala Red List Assessment Workshops 2019). In addition to regular monitoring, the general public can also support these efforts through reporting any dead salamanders to the iNaturalist global project: Saving Salamanders with Citizen Science (J. Kolby pers. comm. March 2019). 

Research Needed
Additional studies are needed to better understand this species' life history and population status.