[5] On March 22, 1940, the biologists Heinrich Mendelssohn and Heinz Steinitz discovered two specimens apparently belonging to a new species of the frog genus Discoglossus on the eastern shore of Lake Hula in Safed, in the Northern District of Mandatory Palestine.

[7] According to an ecologist of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, the frog's Hebrew name, agulashon shehor-gahon (Black-bellied round-tongued), derives from its black belly and round tongue.

On this basis, the Hula painted frog has been labeled a living fossil, the only extant representative of an ancient genetic split.

The snout protrudes forward beyond the mouth, though not as far as that of the Mediterranean painted frog, while the angle of the mandible has a process which corresponds to a hollow in the upper jaw.

A pair of glandular ridges extends from the back of each eye, one over the tympanum towards the base of the arm, and the other stretches straight backwards and splits into multiple warts at the shoulder level.

The upper surface is a medium brown color with golden speckles and a network of black lines forming a net-like pattern.

The underbelly is translucent and lacks pigment, allowing the internal anatomy to be seen through it, and possesses a single crescent-shaped spiracle located in its middle.

[13] It was formerly more widespread, as evidenced by fossil remains of this species found at the Ubeidiya prehistoric site in the Jordan Valley, dating back to the Calabrian stage of the Early Pleistocene epoch (around 1.5 million years ago).

[1][15] The Hula Valley had survived as an area containing major water bodies such as Lake Hula throughout the Pleistocene epoch, when geological activity and climatic changes led to a dramatic decline in suitable habitat for Latonia frogs, allowing the valley to serve as a refugium for this species while the genus became extinct elsewhere.

[1] Although a 2017 study found that environmental DNA of this frog was also present in the Agamon Ha-Hula nature park and the Ein Te’o nature reserve, it was also noted that since most water bodies in the Hula Valley are interconnected via streams and canals, the presence of DNA at a site could be due to it being washed downstream from a different area and is not definitive evidence that the frog itself is present.

Adults have been recorded in damp, peaty soil underneath 20–30 centimetres (7.9–11.8 in) of decomposed leaf litter amongst thickets of common reed, holy bramble and occasionally fig trees, as well as beneath dried grass or in burrows near water.

On land, the Hula painted frog is known to dig into the ground, and has been found beneath 20–30 centimetres (7.9–11.8 in) of decomposed leaf litter, though it does also inhabit burrows made by other animals such as small mammals or freshwater crabs.

[13] This species has robust arms which it uses to dig head first into the soil, its reinforced skull and stout upper body being well adapted to support this behavior.

This combined with the low number of small individuals observed has been proposed to be a sign that the Hula painted frog faces high pressure from predation in its early life stages.

[1][17] However, this species is known to at least occasionally consume other prey, as there is a recorded instance of cannibalism in which one Hula painted frog swallowed a smaller individual while the two were kept in a terrarium.

The dissection of a female found dead in mid-January has shown that her body contained several hundred oocytes, each around 1.5–2 millimetres (0.059–0.079 in) in diameter and greyish-black in color.

Reproduction in this species is presumably similar to that of frogs in the related genus Discoglossus, which exhibit short, intense periods of inguinal amplexus (with the arms of the male clasped around the waist of the female), during which the female lays several batches of eggs in a body of water that adhere to plants, rocks or the bottom of the water body.

[2][12] Israel continued to list it as an endangered species in the slim hope that a relict population may be found in the Golan Heights or in southern Lebanon.

[2] In 2000, a scientist from the Lebanese nature protection organisation A Rocha claimed he had seen a frog species which could be Latonia nigriventer in the Aammiq Wetland south of the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon.

[22] In 2016, a team led by Professor Sarig Gafni of the Ruppin Academic Center's School of Marine Sciences discovered populations totaling several hundred individuals by searching in water at night, instead of in marsh mud, finding populations in 17 of the 52 Hula Valley water holes they surveyed.

[23] In 2017, an article published in the Molecular Ecology Journal, mentions of a group of scientists who investigated the suitable aquatic habitats for Hula painted frogs using the environmental DNA (eDNA) approach.

Since, there is a lack of systematic and efficient methodology to detect a rare amphibian or aquatic species, including this Hula painted frogs, they were designated “extinct”; until their rediscovery at a later stage.

The suitable habitats predicted by employing the eDNA are of great importance for identifying potential sites for future translocation to save this rare frog.

In 2018, another article published in Nature Scientific Reports, mentioned that this species has low abundance and dispersal capability, calling for urgent conservation measures.

Surprisingly, this frog has high genetic diversity (HO = 0.771) and low inbreeding coefficient (FIS = −0.018) with an effective population size estimate (Ne) of ~16–35.

The aquatic habitats of this species are prone to disturbance and anthropogenic hazards which could imperil the survival of endangered Hula frogs.