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This species occurs in eastern Panama, in the Serranía de Pirre, and also the Chocó of Colombia, at 884-1,500m asl.

It is considered to be generally common within its known range. It was still common in September 2002 in the Serranía de Pirre, above Cana, in eastern Panama (R. Ibáñez pers. obs.).

It is a terrestrial species of tropical montane forest, with breeding and larval development taking place in forest streams. There is no information on whether or not this species can survive in degraded habitats.

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The major threat is likely to be a future catastrophic decline, due to chytridiomycosis, as has occurred in many other species of Atelopus. Additional threats include habitat loss due to agricultural development (including the planting of illegal crops), logging, and human settlement, and pollution resulting from the spraying of illegal crops.

• 2.1.2 Small-holder farming
• 2.1.1 Shifting agriculture
• 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming
• 8.1.2 Named species
• 1.1 Housing & urban areas
• 5.3.5 Motivation Unknown/Unrecorded
• 9.3.3 Herbicides and pesticides
• 2.1.3 Agro-industry farming
• 2.3.3 Agro-industry grazing, ranching or farming

The species has been recorded from two protected areas: Parque Nacional Darién (a World Heritage Site) in Panama and Parque Nacional Natural los Katíos in Colombia. In view of the severe risk of chytridiomycosis, the status of this species should be closely monitored, and ex-situ populations should be established.

• 3.4.1 Captive breeding/artificial propagation
• 1.2 Resource & habitat protection

Listed as Critically Endangered because of a projected population decline, estimated to be more than 80% over the next ten years, inferred from declines in other high altitude Atelopus species in the same region, probably due to chytridiomycosis.

• Ibáñez, R., Solís, F., Jaramillo, C. and Rand, S. 2000. An overwiew of the herpetology of Panama. In: J.D. Johnson, R.G. Webb and O.A. Flores-Villela (eds), Mesoamerican Herpetology: Systematics, Zoogeography and Conservation, pp. 159-170. The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas.
• La Marca, E., Lips, K.R., Lötters, S., Puschendorf, R., Ibáñez, R., Rueda-Almonacid, J.V., Schulte, R., Marty, C., Castro, F., Manzanilla-Puppo, J., Garcia-Perez, J.E., Toral, E., Bolaños, F., Chaves, G., Pounds, J.A. and Young, B. 2005. Catastrophic population declines and extinctions in Neotropical harlequin frogs (Bufonidae: Atelopus). Biotropica: 190-201.
• Lötters, S. 1996. The Neotropical Toad Genus Atelopus. Checklist - Biology - Distribution. Vences, M. and Glaw, F. Verlags GbR, Köln, Germany.
• Pounds, J.A., Bustamante, M.R., Coloma, L.A., Consuegra, J.A., Fogden, M.P.L., Foster, P.N., La Marca, E., Masters, K.L., Merino-Viteri, A., Puschendorf, R., Ron, S.R., Sánchez-Azofeifa, G.A., Still, C.J. and Young, B.E. 2006. Widespread amphibian extinctions from epidemic disease driven by global warming. Nature 439: 161-167.
• Ruiz-Carranza, P.M., Ardila-Robayo, M.C. and Lynch, J.D. 1996. Lista actualizada de la fauna de Amphibia de Colombia. Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales 20(77): 365-415.
• Savage, J.M. 1972. The harlequin frogs, genus Atelopus, of Costa Rica, and western Panama. Herpetologica: 77-94.
• Young, B., Sedaghatkish, G., Roca, E. and Fuenmayor, Q. 1999. El Estatus de la Conservación de la Herpetofauna de Panamá: Resumen del Primer Taller Internacional sobre la Herpetofauna de Panamá. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, Virginia.