The type locality is situated in Bushmanland Nama-Karoo, with extensive agriculture on the alluvial sand floodplains of the Vis and Renoster Rivers. Adjacent natural habitats are gravel plains and small hills, which appear unsuitable habitats for chrysochlorids.

This species is known from a single specimen collected from the type locality at Gouna, Northern Cape, South Africa. Several field trips to ground-truth the occurrence of this species have yielded no specimens, or even signs of golden moles, suggesting either an error in recording provenance, or that the original specimen was transported there by anthropogenic means (Bronner 2013) or even perhaps by floodwaters of the Renoster River, flowing from the Roggeveld mountains further south where several other species of golden moles occur. The possibility exists that the holotype originated from Gouna Forest near Knysna (Eastern Cape), but was incorrectly assumed (by Broom, 1950) to be from Gouna in Northern Cape; surveying at Gouna Forest is needed to assess this possibility.

Research is needed to ground-truth the existence of this species in the Gouna areas of both Northern and Eastern Cape, and/or to trace the locality from which the type specimen was collected. Study of more specimens is required to clarify the systematic status of this taxon.