Pareidae is a small family of snakes found largely in southeast Asia, with an isolated subfamily endemic to southwestern India.

[1][2][3] Pareidae was once considered a subfamily of Colubridae (called "Pareatinae"), but since 2013 it is known that pareids are not closely related to colubrids.

Many are snail-eating snakes that have asymmetrical lower jaws, allowing them to pry the soft bodies of snails from their spiral shells.

They lack a mental groove and have a blunt short head with a long thin body.

The Xylophiinae have a very different lifestyle, being primarily ground-dwelling, burrowing snakes, unlike the more arboreal nature of their northern cousins.