We assessed the importance of tree buttresses as a microhabitat for leaf-litter amphibians and reptiles in a tropical wet forest in Costa Rica by making comparisons of species richness and abundance between pairs of 4 × 4 m leaf-litter quadrats. One quadrat in each pair contained a central buttressed tree, and the other did not. Both abundance and species richness of the herpetofauna were much greater in plots containing buttressed trees; higher species richness in buttress plots was attributed solely to greater abundance in these plots. Buttress and nonbuttress plots contained a similar species composition, and we found particularly strong use of this microhabitat by the scincid lizard Sphenomorphus cherriei. Our results indicate that the microhabitat provided by tree buttresses forms a site of generalized high abundance for the leaf-litter herpetofauna and may contribute to localized high abundance of at least one species.