[3] These adaptations lead to them mostly inhabiting ecosystems consisting of loose substrate such as sand dunes and sandy plains.

[5] Eremiascincus mostly feed on insects such as moths, termites, beetles, grasshoppers, and spiders but they also consume some small reptile species such as geckos or smaller skinks.

In 1974, Glenn Milton Storr referred to an extremely pale form of E. faciolatus located in the Lake Eyre region of north-eastern South Australia, followed by Allen Eddy Greer in 1979.

The only other skink that has similar faded colouring is the Eremiascincus pallidus which is smaller in size, lives in the western arid zone.

[10] The specific epithet 'phantasmus' is Latin for 'ghost' and in the case of Eremiascincus phantasmus, refers to the faded "ghostly" visibility of its dorsal bands.