[2] This snake grows to an average of about .5 to 1 m. A fossorial species, the head is wedge-shaped and narrow with little neck delineation, which makes it easy to push through the soil.

[3] The holotype of the species is Chengdu Institute of Biology specimen CIB 64III6016, a male collected in 1964.

Both species together form the family Xenopeltidae, a primitive group of snakes with both boid and pythonid characteristics.

Xenopeltis hainanensis is found in "isolated pockets"[4] of southeastern China (from Guangxi east to Zhejiang and south to Hainan) and northern Vietnam.

The diet is varied, consisting primarily of frogs, reptiles, including other snakes, and small mammals.