This species is found in the rainforests of Rio de Janeiro State and Espirito Santo State, southeastern Brazil. It occurs from 200-1,400m asl.
Habitat and Ecology
This species occurs in the canopy of primary and old secondary forest. It carries its eggs on its back and is a direct developing species. It requires big trees in which to live and hence it does not tolerate a lot of habitat disturbance.
It was originally only known from two specimens, but it is now considered very common. It is hard to find as it occurs high up in the canopy.
Habitat loss due to deforestation and agricultural encroachment are localized threats to this species.
The range of the species includes several protected areas. Management and conservation of its habitat is needed. More research into the species' Extent of Occurrence, ecological requirements and population status is needed.
Sachsse et al. (1999), noted that this species was probably most closely related to Gastrotheca microdiscus, and transferred this species to Gastrotheca from Hyla, where it had been placed in the Hyla albomarginata Group by Duellman (1970). This genus has recently been moved from the family Hylidae (Faivovich, et al., 2005).
Sergio Potsch de Carvalho-e-Silva, Ana Maria Telles 2004. Gastrotheca albolineata. In: IUCN 2014