[5] Hochstetter's frog has a brown-green to brown-red top with dark bands and warts, yellow-brown bellies.

Hochstetter's frog prefers moist gaps under shaded debris, like rocks and logs and along streams and seepages in native temperate rainforest.

[7] All native New Zealand frogs (pepeketua in Māori) share tail-wagging muscles, inscriptional ribs, round pupils, and a lack of eardrums, eustachian tubes, and vocal sacs.

[9] Subfossil remains indicate all native species were once widespread across New Zealand until roughly 200 years ago.

[11] Ten populations of this species have been found to be genetically distinct, owing to the history of glacial isolation.

Introduced browsers, such as goats and pigs, have been thought erode habitat along streams and reduce the amount of vegetation providing shade.

Local mining can cause sediment runoff that reduces stream quality and can even poison frogs.