It is endemic to the highest parts of the Cerro de la Neblina tepui on the border of Brazil and Venezuela.

[1][2] The genus name is a combination of caligo, the Latin word for mist, and phryne, Greek for toad.

The species name references famed British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote The Lost World, a novel that featured prehistoric creatures surviving on a South American plateau.

Their persistence in the region supports the hypothesis of the tepuis serving as refugia for early Cenozoic taxa.

[1] Due to its very restricted range at the highest reaches of the Neblina massif, this species is thought to be at high risk from climate change and potential introduction of chytridomycosis, and it has thus been recommended it be classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List.