The species is generally found in dry, open areas with some sparse vegetation, usually but not exclusively on sandy soils (including beaches, coastal dunes, steppe, and semi-desert; Speybroeck et al. 2016). Where it occurs in rockier, higher-elevation areas it is typically most common in disturbed, less vegetated areas such as quarries or sandy paths (Speybroeck et al. 2016). It can also occur at the edge of traditionally cultivated fields (including areas of "extensive cultivation"; Martinez-Mármol et al. 2020).

The species can remain active in temperatures above 30 °C (Speybroeck et al. 2016). It is active for most of the year, but the activity period may be shorter in the north of the range (Speybroeck et al. 2016). The females lay one or two clutches of one to eight eggs annually.

This species ranges from eastern Portugal to central and southern Spain, and from central and northern Morocco through northern Algeria almost to the Tunisian border (Miralles et al. 2020). There are isolated subpopulations in western and southern Portugal. It is extinct in Gibraltar (Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society 2016). Since the 1970s, its known Iberian distribution has expanded to northern Portugal and the Spanish provinces Huesca, Lleida and Tarragona, reaching the southern slopes of the outer mountains of the pre-Pyrenees (Ferrer-Lerrín et al. 2019). The southernmost record, from Foum Assaka in Morocco, is disconnected from the rest of the range (Martinez del Mármol et al. 2019), but its identity has been confirmed genetically and recent records exist from nearby areas (P.-A. Crochet pers. comm. 2025) and a number of Moroccan subpopulations are isolated from the main range (Miralles et al. 2020). A. Bouazza (unpubl. data) has confirmed that southern Moroccan subpopulations south of Sidi Ifni and Zagora are extant. There are isolated subpopulations in western and southern Portugal. It occurs at up to 1,930 m asl (Miralles et al. 2020), but it is more usually found below 400 m asl. Records from higher elevations (Speybroeck et al. 2016) represent populations that have since been described as different species.

This species occurs in a number of protected areas. Further research is needed to fully resolve the taxonomy of this species complex.