It is widely distributed in the Amazon Basin and is known from the lowlands of Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and French Guiana.

[4] The specific name helenae honors Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige,[2] an American herpetologist.

[2] The relationships of this species were unclear and it was considered incertae sedis within Hyla, until Jungfer [fr] and colleagues concluded in 2013 that Ruthven's Hyla helenae is the same species as Osteocephalus germani[6] described by Ron and colleagues in 2012[3] and that the correct name for this taxon is Osteocephalus helenae.

Dorsal skin bears tubercles in males but is smooth in females.

[3] The region of the type locality of Osteocephalus helenae is lowland tropical rainforest.