[1] It was recorded once with certainty in Britain from Unst in the Shetland Islands; distribution in the rest of Europe is difficult to assess because of frequent misidentifications of the species.

G. proximus grows up to 40 millimeters and is yellowish-orange in color, very similar in appearance to G. impressus (more commonly known as G. insculptus or G. alpinus), though it has a more distinct clypeus, less teeth on the mid-piece labrum, triangular sternal pore area, and a more rounded shape of the metasternite of the last trunk segment.

It has a maximum length of 4 centimeters and a head 1.2 times longer than it is wide as well as forcipular incomplete chitin-lines, with males usually having between 45 and 51 leg-bearing segments and females between 47 and 55.

[2][3][4] G. proximus is an endogeic species that prefers soil under grass growing along the coast; in the far north of Norway it inhabits forests, open land, and mountains at an altitude of up to 600 meters above sea level.

It's one of the few Geophilomorphs inhabiting the Kola peninsula, where it was recorded mainly in the humus debris layer under herbaceous birch and spruce forests on the south and southeast slopes of the Hibiny Mountain Massive.