Rhinella macrorhina is a moderate-sized Andean toad reaching approximately 43.4 mm snout–vent length in males and 51.0 mm in females in the type series (Trueb, 1971). The species is diagnosed within the former Rhamphophryne — now the Rhinella acrolopha group of Grant & Bolívar-G. (2014) — by the combination of a long, protuberant snout directed anteroventrally; well-developed cranial ornamentation, including supraorbital, postorbital, supratympanic, pretympanic, and distinct occipital crests; small, scattered, rounded dorsal tubercles; a dorsolateral row of small depressed tubercles extending from the posterior margin of the parotoid gland to a point approximately midway between the axilla and the groin; hands and feet bearing moderate-sized digits with no marked reduction of webbing; subarticular tubercles absent but supernumerary tubercles present, with a tendency toward subdigital lamellar pads; the tensor fasciae latae not extended; vocal slits present in males; and the absence of a cloacal sheath.

Field appearance at a glance: a robust, broadly oval-bodied toad of mahogany-brown to nearly black ground colour, with markedly tuberculate skin and a coppery-bronze iris. The cranial crests form a distinct ridged outline at the apex of the head when viewed from above. The most diagnostic external feature is the snout itself, which projects forward and slightly downward from the face as an acutely tapering protuberance — the character that gives the species its name. Some individuals show paler, orange-to-coppery tones across the dorsum and limbs.

The morphological characters described here follow Trueb (1971); the species was originally described as Rhamphophryne macrorhina and was transferred to Rhinella by Chaparro, Pramuk & Gluesenkamp (2007), who synonymised the two genera based on the phylogenetic results of Frost et al. (2006) and Pramuk (2006).

The published literature describes Rhinella macrorhina as a leaf-litter species of mature primary and secondary Andean cloud forest of the eastern slope of the Cordillera Central, between approximately 1,450 and 2,450 m (Trueb, 1971; IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, 2017). Activity has been documented to vary with season, and local abundance has been correlated with leaf-litter depth and humidity (Urbina & Galeano, 2009).

In La Honda, individuals have been observed at elevations between 1,700 and 2,000 m within mature secondary forest interior, on the leaf litter, and along the banks of forested streams. The species is neither rare nor abundant at this site — present consistently enough that it is encountered during walks through suitable habitat, but not in the densities that would be reported for an aggregating species. Activity has been observed both during the day and at night; individuals have been seen walking slowly across the substrate rather than hopping, consistent with the deliberate locomotion characteristic of bufonids of this group.

The use of forest-interior leaf litter and stream-bank microhabitat at La Honda is consistent with the ecology described by Urbina & Galeano (2009) for populations elsewhere in Antioquia.

Rhinella macrorhina is endemic to Colombia, known from the departments of Antioquia and Caldas on the eastern slope of the Cordillera Central. The holotype (LACM 44394) was collected at Santa Rita (Antioquia), 1,890–1,910 m, and described by Trueb (1971). The species' Extent of Occurrence is estimated at less than 5,000 km² and its Area of Occupancy at less than 500 km², consistent with a narrow Andean distribution (IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, 2017).

The La Honda record documents the species in the municipality of Carmen de Viboral in eastern Antioquia, within the same eastern-slope-of-the-Cordillera-Central distribution corridor as the type locality. The local elevation range observed at La Honda (1,700–2,000 m) falls within the published 1,450–2,450 m range and slightly above the type-locality elevation of 1,890–1,910 m.

Activity has been observed in La Honda both during the day and at night, on multiple occasions across separate sightings. No breeding aggregation has been documented at this site, and no advertisement calls have been heard. The advertisement call of Rhinella macrorhina is itself poorly characterised in the published literature; whether the absence of calls in La Honda reflects observation outside the breeding period, low calling intensity in this species, or some other pattern cannot be determined from the available data. Urbina & Galeano (2009) reported that activity in R. macrorhina varies between rainy and dry seasons and that abundance correlates with leaf-litter depth and humidity; systematic observation across a full annual cycle would be required to describe how these patterns manifest at La Honda.

Recognition in the field rests on the combination of the conspicuously protuberant snout — projecting forward and slightly downward from the face — together with the well-developed cranial crests that form a distinct ridged outline at the apex of the head, the markedly tuberculate brown-to-black dorsal skin, and the moderate body size (adults reaching approximately 5 cm in body length). The combination of long protuberant snout and prominent cranial crests distinguishes R. macrorhina from the more familiar Andean Rhinella species of the R. margaritifera group, which lack the elongate snout characteristic of the R. acrolopha group (former Rhamphophryne). Within the R. acrolopha group, confirmation to species level requires comparison of cranial-crest arrangement and dorsolateral tubercle pattern to congeners, ideally with verification by a herpetologist.

Rhinella macrorhina is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List (IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, 2017), reflecting its restricted geographic range — Extent of Occurrence under 5,000 km² and Area of Occupancy under 500 km² — combined with continuing threats to its habitat. At the national regulatory level in Colombia, the species is listed as Vulnerable (VU) in Resolución 0126 de 2024 of the Ministry of Environment, and was previously assessed as Vulnerable in the Libro Rojo de los Anfibios de Colombia (Rueda-Almonacid, Lynch & Amézquita, 2004).

The principal documented threats to the species are the loss and fragmentation of mid-elevation Andean forest within its narrow range, and amphibian chytridiomycosis (caused by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), which has been associated with regional declines in Andean Bufonidae. As a leaf-litter dweller dependent on humid forest-floor microhabitat, R. macrorhina is particularly sensitive to canopy opening, drying, and the simplification of leaf-litter structure that follow forest disturbance.

The La Honda population sits within the broader forest matrix of the Reserva Forestal Protectora Regional Santo Domingo y Melcocho, an area of relatively well-conserved mid-elevation cloud forest on the eastern slope of the Cordillera Central. Because the principal documented threats to this species — chytridiomycosis and broad-scale habitat loss — are not mitigated by the redaction of locality information, and because the species is not subject to the specialist-collector pressure that affects miniature orchids, the elevation range observed at La Honda (1,700–2,000 m) is published in this sheet without redaction.