This was previously considered a subspecies of Hyla arborea, until it was elevated to species status by Stöck et al. (2008).

European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)
EU 27 regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)

This species is widespread in Europe, and is assessed as Least Concern for both Europe and for the EU 27 member states in view of its wide distribution, tolerance of a broad range of habitats and presumed large population.

Within the European region (Frost 2021), this species occurs from European Türkiye and northeastern Greece (Evros prefecture; Speybroeck et al. 2016, Pafilis and Maragou 2020), parts of western Bulgaria, southeastern-eastern Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, north to the Baltic states (Lithuania and western Latvia), Belarus, and European Russia (Dufresnes et al. 2020), and eastwards through Ukraine (including the southern coast of Ukraine) to southwestern Russia. It is also known from several Greek islands in the Eastern Aegean, including Samothraki, Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Rhodes (Speybroeck et al. 2016; E.-A. Toli, Greece national Red List). The elevational range of the species in Europe is not well-characterised, but Speybroeck et al. (2016) state that "Southern species" in this group (which include the Common and Italian tree frogs) reach elevations over 2,000 m asl.

Out of the European region the range extends to Anatolian Türkiye (Gül et al. 2012, Baran et al. 2021), east to the Russian Northern Caucasus, and northern and central Armenia. It occurs disjunctly in the Talysh Mountains of Iran (Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan provinces), and Azerbaijan.

There are no specific information on population status of this species in the countries of its main occurrence in Europe. In the 1980's, the species became extinct in southwestern Russia in Belgorod Province (Lada et al. 2011); in Kursk Province it became extinct since the 1960's, and recently is extremely rare (Lada et al. 2002, Degtyarev 2021).

This species is found in a range of mostly sunny, well-vegetated habitats, commonly consisting of hedges, bramble or reedbeds, or meadows with extensive herbaceous vegetation (Speybroeck et al. 2016, describing a group containing Hyla arborea, H. intermedia and H. molleri as well as H. orientalis). This or related species have been found as high as 10 m in trees, but animals are generally found lower (Speybroeck et al. 2016). In the Russian Kaliningrad Province it inhabits lightly forested and bushy areas along the banks of small reservoirs among agricultural lands, thickets of shrubs and tall grasses along the banks of ditches, wet meadows with shrubs, garden plots (S.N. Litvinchuk and D.V. Skorinov pers. obs. October 2022). It can make use of "a large variety" of waterbodies as breeding sites, but favours sun-exposed, well-vegetated and fish free breeding sites in standing water or stagnant sections of rivers (Speybroeck et al. 2016). Favoured sites for frogs within this group include marshes and well-vegetated areas of lake or stagnant river sections, but anthropogenic sites such as quarry ponds or disused swimming pools may be used (Speybroeck et al. 2016). It is generally nocturnal, but may be active by day in warm, humid conditions or at high elevations (Speybroeck et al. 2016). It may be active year-round in southern parts of the range, with reproduction taking place in winter and metamorphosis in early summer (Speybroeck et al. 2016). In the temperate regions, breeding starts in the mid-spring. Clutches consist of up to (but usually fewer than) 100 eggs, with a single female laying as many as 50 clutches in a night, each anchored to vegetation (Speybroeck et al. 2016). A female may lay as many as 1,400 eggs during a single season (Speybroeck et al. 2016).

The threats are similar to those listed for H. arborea in the countries where both species occur: habitat alteration, urbanisation, conversion of natural habitats to agricultural ones without preserving enough suitable patches of original habitat. For breeding sites, the general threat is climate change (at least in the part of Serbia where this species has been detected, the sun-exposed and shallow small aquatic habitats dry out in warm years before tadpoles metamorphose), as well as the destruction of breeding sites as "useless" and their conversion to arable land or urban areas (J. Crnobrnja-Isailović pers. comm. January 2022). The threats mentioned for H. arborea in Serbia apply also to H. orientalis (see Crnobrnja-Isailović and Paunović 2015). In southwestern Russia, the main threat for the species is climate desiccation (Lada et al. 2011).

There are no specific data on use of this species for food or medicine, nor in the pet trade.

Conservation Actions In-Place
This species occurs in many protected areas.