Hoplobatrachus rugulosus likely was introduced to Borneo in the 1960s (Inger & Stuebing 2005) for food and is found today mostly at Sabah.

The species lives in agricultural country, rice fields, disturbed country, and construction sites. It is a heavily built, strong frog with very granular skin and longitudinally arranged skin fold on the back. The color pattern is composed of scattered dark spots on brown or grey background. The flanks are mottled. The belly is mostly white. Females reach 125 mm, males 100 mm.