[2] They are found mostly in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and all mainland Australia and various islands.

[3] The rostral scale overhangs the mouth to form a shovel-like burrowing structure.

Typhlopids do not have dislocatable lower jaw articulations restricting them to prey smaller than their oral aperture.

[2][5] The Typhlopidae are thought to have originated on Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous, along with their sister group, the Xenotyphlopidae.

The common ancestor of both families is thought to have diverged from the Gerrhopilidae earlier in the Cretaceous, when Insular India broke away from Madagascar.