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This species is known from the type locality: Cerro del Ingles near San Jose del Palmor, close to Serrania de los Paraguas, in Choco department, between 1,900 and 2,200m asl. It is also known from Boqueron in the Municipality of El Cairo, Valle del Cauca department, in Colombia. It might occur a little more widely.

The current population status is unknown, and it is known from less than 10 specimens. The species was last collected in 1998, and the area has most likely not been surveyed since then.

A terrestrial species, it occurs in montane forest on the forest floor and near the forest edge. It has not been recorded from anthropogenically disturbed habitats. Its breeding habits are not known, although breeding is likely to take place in streams.

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Like other Atelopus species, it is presumably at serious risk from chytridiomycosis. Habitat loss due to subsistence wood collection and clear-cutting, and forest clearance for the planting of illegal crops and cattle ranching, is also a major threat.

• 5.3.5 Motivation Unknown/Unrecorded
• 8.1.2 Named species
• 2.1.2 Small-holder farming
• 2.3.2 Small-holder grazing, ranching or farming

The range of the species includes the Parque Nacional Natural Tatamá. More research into the species' range, ecological requirements, and population status is needed. The threat of chytridiomycosis means that successful conservation measures will probably need to include the maintenance of any surviving individuals in captivity.

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

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.

• Acosta-Galvis, A.R. 2000. Ranas, Salamandras y Caecilias (Tetrapoda: Amphibia) de Colombia. Biota Colombiana: 289-319.
• 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. 1992. Ein neuer Harlekin-Frosch (Anura: Bufonidae: Atelopus) aus dem Choco, West-Kolumbien. Sauria: 27-30.
• 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.