It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.

The diuca finch was formally described in 1782 by the Chilean naturalist Juan Ignacio Molina under the binomial name Fringilla diuca.

[2] The specific epithet is from the Araucano names Diuca or Siuca for this species.

[3] With the transfer of the glacier finch (formerly white-winged diuca finch) to Idiopsar or Chionodacryon, the diuca finch is now the only member of the genus Diuca, which was introduced in 1850 by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach.