M. saxicola has smooth skin, and its cryptic coloration can help it blend into the background of its surroundings when it is resting or calling on the surface of rocks.

It is thought that tadpoles of this species are partly fossorial because females lay eggs in small depressions they dig in the sand underwater.

saxicola is endemic to the Western Ghats mountain range in India, specifically within the south Indian states of Kerala and Karnataka.

[11] Males of this species occupy elevated rock perches – about 2 to 8 cm above the water level – near streams and waterfalls to attract females, which they do primarily by calling.

One such mechanism is the natural inflation and deflation of the vocal sac, which recycles air and improves call rate and the distance which the sound travels.

[5] Foot-flagging is thought to have evolved as an agonistic signal that reduces the rate of physical combat between males, thus lowering the risk of injury in competition over territory and mating opportunities.

[17] It has been hypothesized that sex steroid signaling in adolescents organizes the anatomical “wiring” that establishes the neural control of the hindlimbs used in foot-flagging.

[18] Due to its frequent foot-flagging, M. saxicola has been cited as a potential model to study the effects of sex steroids on animal behavior.

Males exhibit calling and foot-flagging more often earlier in the day, when territory defense is more likely to ensure amplexus, which begins in the late morning and early afternoon.

[7] Chytridiomycosis thus represents a potential threat to M. saxicola and other endangered endemic frog species in the Western Ghats, as Bd has been linked to declines, extirpations, and, in rare cases, extinctions of other amphibians.

[14] Local villages in the Western Ghats may enter the forest to collect leaf litter for use in fertilizing areca nut gardens or paddy fields.

[6] This practice removes a potentially important source of shelter for amphibians and represents a threat to environmental stability, even in the absence of larger damages to the forest.

Tea and rubber estates also pollute the water and soil of M. saxicola’s habitats with factory wastes, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers, posing a significant threat to the clear streams this species depends on for reproduction.

Populations in the regions of Keeriparai and Maramalai have been particularly affected by this problem due to the expansion of rubber planting in these areas over the past 25 to 40 years.

Smaller streams have also dried up due to water being redirected to estates for irrigation or factories for other uses, further damaging an essential component of M. saxicola’s habitat.