This pocket gopher ranges across the western and southwestern United States and Mexico. A specimen obtained by its describer near San Francisco Mountain had reddish-brown upperparts, a whitish underside, and long, flattened foreclaws.
In the single specimen Woodhouse obtained near San Francisco Mountain, the head, cheeks, back, and sides were bright reddish brown, darker on the crown and back. The chest, underside, feet, and inner legs were whitish to ashy, with pale reddish brown also on the abdomen. The small, rounded ears had short black outer fur. The tail tapered from a thick base, with short white silky hairs toward the tip and a small tuft. The foreclaws were long, flattened, slightly curved, and pointed.
This pocket gopher lives underground. During a 2015–2017 study at the Janos Biosphere Reserve in northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico, the species was visually recorded in grassland without prairie dogs, scrubland, and oak forest.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.