It is a small frog about 2.5 cm long, red-brown in colour, with some individuals having reverse V-shaped patches and/or with light brown dots randomly on their backs.

Although the frog has a unique reproductive method where the male carries the developing tadpoles in the pouch by its hips until metamorphosis.

This frog hides under logs, rocks, and leaf litter in rainforests and adjacent wet sclerophyll forests.

Eggs are laid on the land (under decomposing logs, rock or leaf litter) as the tadpoles do not need water for metamorphosis.

[citation needed] The second species in the genus, Assa wollumbin, is smaller and reaches only 1.6 cm in leghth.