Townsend’s dwarf salamander is the solitary representative of its genus, and its lineage may have diverged from all other amphibian species over 34 million years ago at a time when monkeys and humans shared a common ancestor. This species inhabits cloud forest and oak forest, and is found living in bromeliads. It can survive in shaded coffee plantations, providing that humidity is retained, but is not found in heavily disturbed areas. Its habitat is being lost due to expanding agriculture and human settlements, as well as the extraction of wood.