Endemic to Australia, it is distributed in the southwest of the country, and found on stony ground or in Triodia-dominated deserts.

[3][4][5] It a ground-dwelling gecko; its habitat is leaf litter, rubbish piles, and beneath rocks.

The first description of the species was published by John Edward Gray in 1845, in a revision of specimens at the British Museum, placing his type in the genus Diplodactylus.

[2] A description of two other specimens, obtained by John Gilbert and noted as collected at "Houtman's Abrollos", was assigned to another species, Diplodactylus bilineatus, later recognised as the same taxon.

[6][2] The diversity within the genus Crenadactylus has been circumscribed as a subspecific arrangement, two or three geographically identified subspecies, until a revision in 2016 elevated part of the population to a separate species.