[2] This species is also striking in that this velvet worm shows no external trace of eyes,[3][4] although rudimentary optical vesicles are present internally.

[5] This species is also notable for featuring males with the minimum number of legs (19 pairs) recorded in any velvet worm in the family Peripatidae.

[3][4] The species is named for Noel Williamson, a political officer at Sadiya who was murdered in 1911 along with his travelling companion Dr J.D.

[3][4][8] Kemp's assistant found the first three specimens in December 1911 near Rotung and the Dihang River gorge, where workers soon collected many more.

[3] As Kemp noted, Typhloperipatus features a set of traits that are most similar to those found in the Eoperipatus species of Southeast Asia.

[3] Furthermore, like Eoperipatus, Typhloperipatus exhibits lecithotrophic ovoviviparity; that is, mothers in both genera retain yolky eggs in their uteri.

For example, these genera are distinguished by not only the absence of eyes in Typhloperipatus but also the location of the nephridial openings on the fourth and fifth leg pairs.