The epithet, poinsettii, is in honor of American physician, botanist, and statesman, Joel Roberts Poinsett.

[2][3] In the United States, Sceloporus poinsettii occurs in the Chihuahua Desert and Edwards Plateau regions of Texas and New Mexico.

[4][5][6] In Mexico it occurs in the border states from the Sierra Madre Occidental of Sonora, eastward through Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon.

[7][8][9] Southward its distribution is less well established, although it is known to occur throughout of the state of Durango, parts of Zacatecas, with additional records from San Luis Potosi in the southeast, and the Pacific slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental of northern Jalisco in the southwest.

[10][11] The crevice spiny lizard is typically grey in color, but sometimes can have a ruddy red-brown appearance with a black and white collar around the neck region.