[2][3] The specific name bassleri honors Harvey Bassler, an American geologist and paleontologist.

[4] The species is found in lowland and montane tropical moist forests, in both pristine and slightly degraded habitat, in the Amazon drainage of Peru at elevations of 270–1,200 m. This frog is commonly found no more than 300 m from streams.

[1] Although it can be extremely common in places, the pleasing poison frog is currently classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN due to ongoing habitat loss, mostly caused by farming and ranching.

[1] While this frog is seen on the international pet trade, scientists do not believe this is a threat to the species overall.

However, they note it would be very easy to overharvest specific color morphs if people were to capture them in the wild.