Octotona alpina occurs in the northern mountain ranges around the Gobi desert and in the regions east and south of Lake Baikal (Smith et al. 1990). This species also occurs in northwestern and northeastern China (Smith and Xie 2008). O. alpina occurs at elevation of 400-2,500 m in the Altai Mountains (Ognev 1966), in China, O. alpina occurs at elevations greater than 2,000 m (Smith and Xie 2008).