Engystomops pustulosus is a small species of terrestrial frog growing to a length of between 25 and 35 mm (1.0 and 1.4 in).

[5] These warts resulted in other early descriptions falsely identifying túngara frogs as a species of toad in the Bufo genus.

Both males and females typically have a conspicuous white stripe that extends from the lower lip to down the throat.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marshes, pastureland, heavily degraded former forest, ponds, and canals and ditches.

[1] Engystomops pustulosus is nocturnal, emerging at night to feed on ants and termites and other small invertebrates (such as snails, beetles, flies and isopods) among the plant litter on the ground.

[9] During the breeding season, the males group together at night in temporary pools and call to attract mates.

Whine induces female phonotaxis and contributes to species recognition, while chuck increases the call’s attractiveness in mating.

Also, surgical excision of the fibrous mass inhibits the production of chuck despite the frog's attempt to produce complex call.

Females prefer the mating call of frogs who produce chucks with lower frequencies.

Compared to the former female choice, female choice for conspecific whine has less significance due to the lack of overlap between the habitat of túngara frogs and the habitat of other Physalaemus species, decreasing the instances of avoiding the calls of close relatives.

[14] The test with reconstructed ancestral cells endorses the female call preference for conspecific whine.

The results show that females give strongest response to calls of phylogenetically closest species, indicating the more significant influence of evolutionary history than acoustic similarity.

[14] Recent research suggests that sexual calls from the males are influenced by their dietary conditions.

Males that use such calling strategies are able to maximize the possibility of finding a mate and minimize predation risk.

While portraying a trait that increases its attractiveness, the male must also remain inconspicuous through strategic variance of call complexity.

[20] Female túngara frogs also exhibit elicitation behaviors that mainly serve to cause a potential mate to increase its sexual display intensity.

[26] The major stressors of amphibian declines include the following: habitat loss/degradation, pollution, climate change, and invasive species.

These causes also show cooccurrence in that intensified agricultural and urbanized landscape lead to both habitat change and increased pollutant release.

Some research suggests the negative impact of agricultural sites on túngara frog health, displayed by decreased egg number, reduced hatching success, and undersized/smaller body size and male secondary sexual characteristics.

[26] Such findings in research significantly relates to the conservation of amphibians, since lower reproduction is likely to correlate with an accelerated population decline.