This species is distributed in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. Cruziohyla calcarifer is a highly nocturnal species, which lives and reproduces in primary forest. Males have been heard calling high up in trees, however their vocalizations are soft, having little carrying power. These frogs deposit their egg clutches on the lower central section of leaves overhanging small ponds or open water bodies. It is a particularly rare species and its populations are highly restricted in all countries in which it is known to occur.