 "L. fabiani" is endemic to the Salar de Atacama, the Atacama salt flat, in northern Chile.The species was first described by José L. Yáñez and Herman Núñez in 1983, from a sample collected at a high elevation, , near San Pedro de Atacama in Llano de Vilama in September 1981 by the Chilean National Museum of Natural History.Principle diagnostic features of "L. fabiani" are