[1] Haesselia roraimensis was discovered in early 1985 during an international botanical expedition to Guyana organised by the Institute of Systematic Botany, Utrecht.

These three genera share several characteristics including brownish pigmentation, convex leaves, large thin-walled leaf cells without trigones, and the absence of underleaves.

However, Haesselia is distinguished from its relatives by various features including its ascending growth habit, dentate ventral leaf margins, and distinctive perianth structure.

The leaf cells are unusually large (about 66–100 micrometres) with thin walls and lack the reinforced corners (trigones) common in many liverworts.

[3] The species lacks underleaves (small leaves on the underside of the stem that are present in many liverworts), though very young portions of the shoot have a single, pear-shaped slime papilla in their place.

[3] Haesselia roraimensis is known only from Mount Roraima in Guyana, specifically from its northern slopes and foothills, where it grows at elevations between 550–1,550 m (1,800–5,090 ft) above sea level.

H. roraimensis grows alongside various other bryophytes, including Anomoclada mucosa, Leucobryum crispum, Micropterygium trachyphyllum, and species of Riccardia.

However, as the bryophyte flora of the Guyana Highlands remains poorly studied, the true extent of the species' distribution may be larger than suspected.