It is endemic to Baja California in Mexico, where it is restricted to the highlands of the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir mountain range.

Its specific epithet references naturalist Alfred Webster Anthony.

[3] In 2021, a phylogenetic analysis confirmed its distinctiveness and found it to be the most basal member of the genus Scapanus.

[4] This species inhabits the Sierra Juárez and San Pedro Mártir pine–oak forests ecoregion.

Although its habitat is protected, large amounts of cattle graze in the area and destroy mole galleries.