Kaloula likely colonized the Philippines from Southeast Asia during the Late Miocene, and then radiated into different ecotypes.

K. picta, which is a terrestrial ground frog, and K. conjuncta, which is scansorial (climbing) and prefers shrubs, have established themselves throughout the Philippine archipelago.

K. picta as well as K. pulchra display the lowest internal genetic diversity, but also have widespread geographical distributions that may have likely occurred be due to human activity.

The most recent common ancestor of the terrestrial species K. rigida and K. walteri likely lived 4.8 million years ago during the Early Pliocene, while that of the arboreal species K. kalingensis and K. kokacii likely lived 9.1 million years ago.

The most recent common ancestor of K. conjuncta, which currently has four recognized subspecies, likely lived 4.4 million years ago.