[1] The Malagasy rainbow frog is a small, roundish, brightly coloured species with a distinctive white, orange–red, green and black pattern on the back, each area of which is clearly delineated.

Adapted for both underground and climbing lifestyles, the Malagasy rainbow frog has horny tubercles on the underside of the hind feet to help with burrowing, and claws on the forefeet for clinging to vertical canyon walls.

[1][5] Its primary habitat is narrow canyons where the conditions tend to be cool for the tropics, relatively dark (resulting in little or no vegetation) and very humid.

[5][6] The Malagasy rainbow frog digs into the sandy areas bordering the streams or spends its time in small holes or crevices in the rock walls.

[4][7] Males call from rock walls or the surface of temporary pools and it is in these that the eggs are laid, which already hatch into tadpoles after about three days.

They have the unusual habit of spending the day with their heads submerged in the sediment of the bottom, feeding on detritus, and their tails projecting at an angle.

Primary threats to the habitat are wood extraction, fire, overgrazing by livestock, mining and possibly disturbance by tourists.