[2] The current scientific name comes from the past participle of the Latin verb nūbo, meaning to cover or veil.

[2][4] L. nupta is a large sized lizard with a heavy head and nostrils on the canthus rostralis.

The body is moderately depressed, and there are vertebral enlarged scales covering most of the lizard's back.

[2] The subspecies L. nupta fusca has no nuchal fold, and the vertebral enlarged scales are strongly mucronate.

[2] It resides in large limestone rocks and outcrops with deep crevices, and in man-made structures like mud-brick homes and old buildings.