Rhacophorus lateralis is a rhacophorid tree frog endemic to the Western Ghats in South India.

[1][2] After its original description in 1883 by George Albert Boulenger, the frog was rediscovered in Coorg in 2000 and has since been found in many parts of the Western Ghats around southern Karnataka and northern Kerala.

[6] The frog was described by George Albert Boulenger in 1883 based on a single specimen from "Malabar" (present-day Kerala) collected by Richard Henry Beddome[7] with a second specimen in the Indian Museum from Koppa in Chikmagalur collected by W. M. Daly, then resident in Kadur.

[8] Several later surveys did not report the species until its rediscovery in 2000 in the course of an expedition to the Western Ghats by a team from University of Aberdeen.

The rediscovery was based on two adult females and an unsexed metamorph specimen collected from Lakunda estate in Virajpet taluka in South Kodagu.