The word bandy-bandy (bandi-bandi) traces back to the indigenous dialect of Kattang, from the Taree region, New South Wales.

The bandy-bandy is a smooth-scaled, glossy snake with a distinctive pattern of sharply contrasting black and white rings that continue right around the body.

They have at least one pair of fangs that are hollow and fixed i.e. immobile at the front of the mouth, specifically located on the rostral area of the maxillae.

[4] This fang structure is designed to deliver toxins, which is why elapid snakes around the world are notoriously known as the most venomous.

Until 1996, there were thought to be only three species of Vermicella, which were subjectively arranged multiple times into different specific and subspecific categories based on morphological characteristics.

Found in a variety of habitats such as wet coastal forests, Acacia, mulga and mallee scrubs, savannah woodland and spinifex desert sandhills.

[4] Different species of elapids carry varying molecular compositions of neurotoxins, adapted to suit their diet.

It is most common in areas of remnant habitat structure such as the foothills of Mt Glorious and Brisbane Forest Park.

In Southeast Queensland, it is found across a wide range of habitats and vegetation types, from coastal forest and woodland, to scrubland, mulga, and outback desert.

[citation needed] The bandy-bandy has also been spotted in the White Rock and Spring Mountain Conservation Park near Ipswich, Queensland.

Females seasonally produce offspring, laying eggs in the late summer (February - March) after undergoing vitellogenesis in October.

Live-bearing elapids undergoing ovulation in October - December and give birth in February - April after a 14 week gestation period.

Oviparous elapids undergo ovulation at the same time (October - December), where the eggs are then laid shortly after without the need of a gestation period.

Newly hatched young only emerge at the same time as live-bearing snakes give birth (February - March).

However, evidence exists that oviparous elapids may be able to produce a second clutch of eggs in the late summer, whereby newly hatched offspring emerge around April.

[21] Despite covering a large distribution across Australia, their diets consist mostly, if not solely of blind snakes from the family Typhlopidae.

To confirm the specificity in their chemosensory response, they were unresponsive to the chemical trails of other reptiles such as the yellow-bellied three-toed skink Saiphos equalis and the golden crowned snake Cacophis squamulosus.

[5] A nocturnal, burrowing snake, V. annulata is found beneath the soil surface, under stumps, rocks, and logs.

A regular banded pattern in snakes can create a phenomenon of ‘flicker fusion’, which acts to cause an illusion during flight.

[24] Aposematism is a symbiotically evolved way of honestly warning predators of poisonous or venomous defences using bright colouration.

The bandy-bandy, especially V.annulata, has a unique defensive display behaviour, where it contorts its body into one or multiple loops that reach a vertical height of 15 cm.

By displaying height and colouration and by hiding its head behind its defensive loops, the bandy-bandy can leave potential predators both confused and intimidated.

Occasionally, a specimen is discovered by a roaming cat at night or often found after falling into a backyard swimming pool.

The new species was found by Dutch biologist Freek Vonk at Weipa on Cape York Peninsula, near Rio Tinto's bauxite mining operations, and may be endangered.