The specific name, groi, commemorates "Lord Gro", a character in the novel The Worm Ouroboros by E. R.

Small white spots occur between the dark bands above the first longitudinal row of tubercles.

The gular area is dark grayish-brown, the chest is pale chrome orange, and the belly is dirty white.

Adult females are essentially the same color, lacking the scarlet red in the infralabial region, and the belly is yellow.

[citation needed] E. groi lives in burrows it excavates itself, especially under fallen logs.