It is endemic to Papua New Guinea and is only known from its type locality, Moiyokabip in the upper Ok Tedi catchment in the Western Province.

[1][3] This species was originally described in the genus Albericus,[2] named for Alberich, the dwarf in Scandinavian mythology and Richard Wagner's opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen.

[2][4] Menzies named the Albericus species he described after Alberich's companions in the mythodology, although rhenaurum is Latinized form of Rheingold.

[2] The two specimens making the type series measure about 15 mm (0.59 in) in snout–urostyle length.

[1] The altitude of the type locality is variously given as 1,200 and 1,520 m (3,940 and 4,990 ft) above sea level.