This species is only known from five specimens, all with the locality data "Fogo" in the Cape Verde archipelago (Arnold et al. 2008). Its extent of occurrence is unknown; Fogo has an area of 476 km2, however, it is thought that the species has a restricted range within the island as the original material was taken from a single locality (Angel 1935), and extensive sampling across the island has failed to record it since its original collection. It is consequently considered rare (Schleich et al. 1996).