The species is endemic to the Cape Verde Islands.

C. vaillantii is listed as endangered by the IUCN because the species occurs as a very fragmented population, and the quality of its habitat is declining.

[1] Vaillant's mabuya occurs on the islands Fogo and Santiago, and the islet Ilhéu de Cima.

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Chioninia.

The specific name, vaillantii, is in honor of French herpetologist Léon Louis Vaillant.