It is a terrestrial and fossorial frog that occurs in rainforest, including littoral forest.

[8] The taxon Plethodontohyla laevis from further north on the east coast of Madagascar was synonymised with the species P. alluaudi in 1991.

[9] Blommers-Schlösser assigned a specimen from Mandraka in eastern Madagascar to this species,[10] and subsequent authors interpreted specimens from the area around Andasibe as belonging to this species as well.

[11] Genetic sequences from specimens collected in this area were later used as the reference material for the species (summarised in ref.

[13] In 2017 Bellati et al.[5] conducted a thorough review of the taxonomy of this species and its associated synonyms, based on osteology, external morphology, and phylogenetics.