This species is present in Andorra, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and possibly Luxembourg.

[1] The green whip snake is a slender species with a small but well-defined head, prominent eyes with circular pupils, and smooth scales.

The background colour is greenish-yellow but this is mostly obscured by heavy, somewhat irregular bands of dark green or black, particularly in the front half of the snake.

There is a larger, up to two metres (6.5 ft) long, often pure black variant – Coluber viridiflavus carbonarius (Bonaparte, 1833) – found in Italy and Malta.

[4] Commonly regarded as non-venomous, it is described that a subject who endured 'sustained biting' of up to 5 minutes began showing suspect symptoms, including problems with neuromotor skills.