The species is indigenous to the extreme southwestern United States and adjacent northwestern Mexico.

The specific name, switaki, is in honor of German herpetologist Karl-Heinz Switak (born 1938).

[4] The preferred natural habitats of C. switaki are desert and rocky areas.

[1] Coleonyx gypsicolus, which is endemic to Isla San Marcos in Mexico, is sometimes considered a subspecies of C. switaki.

The body of C. switaki is covered in round brown spots.