[3][4] It is closely related to Wonambi naracoortensis, present in Australia during the Pleistocene.

[5] The name of the genus is derived from traditional name given by the people of Arnhem Land to the Rainbow serpent.

They closely resemble Varanus (monitors) more than small burrowing lizards.

John Scanlon has presented this as evidence of descent from the former, rather than burrowing ancestors that evolved into the elongate and legless snakes.

The fossil material described by this species includes a rare example of a complete skull and mandible, often crushed in the fossilisation process, that was preserved in the soft limestone of a body of fresh water.