It is endemic to wet evergreen forests of southern Western Ghats in Kerala and Tamil Nadu states of India.

It has been recorded from Anaimalai, Munnar, Palni hills, Periyar Tiger Reserve and Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve[3] Melanobatrachus indicus is a rare species[1] that was only rediscovered in 1997.

[4] It lives amongst leaf-litter, rocks and other ground cover of moist evergreen tropical forests.

[1] The subfamily Melanobatrachinae included two African genera, Hoplophryne Barbour & Loveridge, 1928 and Parhoplophryne Barbour & Loveridge, 1928, in the past but they are now placed in the subfamily Hoplophryninae.

[5] Melanobatrachus indicus is an Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species.