[2] Species of this genus are distributed in Africa (Egypt, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Zambia, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania) but one subspecies (Latastia longicaudata andersonii) lives in Yemen.

[5] Most long-tailed lizards of the genus Latastia inhabit well vegetated sandy or gravelly plains and large wadis in western and eastern Africa.

They can be found in semidesert scrubland and deciduous Acacia-Commiphora bushland where scrubby undergrowth is plentiful,[6] in moist savanna and high grassland [7] or in millet fields.

[5][10] They are diurnal, heliophilous and terrestrial, extremely wary fast-running lacertids which wander over large territories but forage mostly within vegetation cover during the heat of the day.

The population in Senegal (L. l. longicaudata) produces clutches of 5-7 eggs between July and September [11] while females of L. l. revoili in southeastern Kenya lay only 3-4 eggs/clutch.