Hypsiboas pombali is, on the basis of its morphological similarity to H. semilineatus (Caramaschi et al. 2004), one of the six species of the clade H. semilineatus group (Faivovich et al. 2005). Here, we described the external morphology of the previously unknown tadpole of Hypsiboas pombali. We collected the tadpoles near submerged roots and stems of vegetation in a permanent pond, in July, August and October 2010 and March and June 2011, in the Michelin Ecological Reserve (13º47'S -39º10'W), Igrapiuna municipality, Bahia, Brazil. No schooling behavior was observed. To identify the tadpoles, some were raised in the laboratory till metamorphosis was completed. Studied specimens are preserved in formalin 5% and housed at Zoological Museum of the State University of Feira de Santana (MZUEFS lots 897, 901, 903, 986, 1002). The morphological description follows McDiarmid and Altig (1999) and Mêrces and Juncá (2010). The external morphology was based on four tadpoles in stages 35-38 (Gosner 1960) and the following measurements were taken in mm (average, standard deviation): total length (TL, 35.5 ±4.3), body length (BL, 10.4 ±1.3), body maximum height (BH, 4.5 ±0.4), body width (BW, 5.8 ±0.5), tail length (TaL, 25.0 ±1.9), maximum tail height (MTH, 5.6 ±0.4), tail musculature height (TMH, 3.6 ±0.4), dorsal fin height (DFH, 1.8 ±0.1), ventral fin height (VFH, 1.2 ±0.1), interorbital distance (IO, 2.1 ±0.3), eye diameter (E, 1.1 ±0.1), nostril major axis (N, 0.6 ±0.1), nostril-snout distance (NS, 1.4 ±0.1), oral disc width (ODW, 2.7 ±0.3). Description. Body elliptical in dorsal and ventral view and depressed in lateral view (Fig. 1A,B,C), wider than high (BH/BW = 0.80 ±0.06); BH about a half of BL (BH/BL = 0.49 ±0.02); BL less than one third of TL (BL/TL = 0.30 ±0.01). Snout semicircular in dorsal view, rounded in lateral view (Fig. 1A,B). Nostrils dorsally located, reniform, with a thin pigmented margin (Fig. 1D), N about 8% of BW (N/BW = 0.08 ±0.01). NS about 15% of BL (NS/BL = 0.15 ±0.01). Eyes dorsolaterally located, laterally directed (Fig. 1A,B), IO about 40% of BW (IO/BW = 0.41 ±0.03), E 18% of BW (E/BW = 0.18 ±0.01). Spiracle sinistral, laterally positioned, located at the middle third of the body, its internal wall free to the body (Fig. 1A,E). Vent tube medial, attached to the ventral fin at the right side, opening dextrally. Tail large (TaL/ TL = 0.71 ±0.01), higher than the BH (MTH/BH = 1.13 ±0.09). Tail musculature well developed (TMH/MTH = 0.63 ±0.04). Dorsal fin taller than ventral fin (DFH/VFH = 1.60 ±0.27), beginning immediately after tail-body junction. Tail arched, tip of tail tapered. Oral disc ventral with symmetrical lateral folds on posterior lip (Fig. 1F), about 40 % of BW (ODW/BW = 0.41 ±0.10). Marginal papillae in a single row with narrow dorsal gap on anterior lip. Submarginal papillae absent or rare. Anterior jaw sheath widely arch-shaped, with long, slim lateral process (Fig. 1G). Jaw sheaths pigmented, finely serrated. Posterior jaw sheath V-shaped with free margin. Labial tooth row formula 2(2)/4(1). In stages 25 to 28 (n = 6), the tadpoles have relatively bigger eyes (E 19% of BW), relatively higher tail (MTH 21% bigger than BH, TMH 80% of BH). There was no variation in labial tooth row formula. Color in life. Body beige with reddish brown spots and dark brown specks. Abdominal surface lighter than the dorsal surface. Tail cream, with dark brown spots varying in density and forming a streak on the median line that extends from the beginning of the tail to the end of the first third of the tail. In some tadpoles superficial whitish cream spots were observed starting at the body end and extending to the end of the tail. Color in preservative. Light brown body with dark brown reticulations and specks, cream tail with dark specks and a dark brown streak on the median line that extends from the beginning of the tail to the end of the first third of the tail. Tadpoles of species of the H. semilineatus group are morphologically different among them (Kolenk et al. 2008) with the exception of those of H. semilineatus (Spix) and H. geographicus (Spix) (d'Heursel & Sá 1999), which also exhibit a schooling behavior (Caldwell 1989; d'Heursel & Haddad 2002) that is absent on the rest of the species of the group. The