My guide Frank Pichardo found this distinctive little frog under a log when we were primarily searching for leaf-litter lizards. I would have guessed that it was a microhylid based on similar-looking species I had seen elsewhere such as Microhyla heymonsi or Hypopachus variolosus. But no, it's in the family Craugastoridae, along with hundreds of species of Pristimantis.

This frog was originally described as Noblella coloma. That species was split in 2021, and Noblella mindo came to be. This newly-described species was soon moved to Phyllonastes, though not all authorities are following that change, so some references (including the 2025 masterpiece Amphibians of Ecuador) still call it Noblella mindo.

These frogs are rarely seen. This was most likely the least common frog I saw on this trip to Ecuador.