Originally recorded from west of Valparaiso, Japan, Arafura Sea, off Marion Island (Spence Bate 1888). Tiefenbacher (1990b), who examined the syntypes, considered this species as a synonym of N. longirostris and according to Gorny et al. (1992), the specimens from Marion Island are actually N. lanceopes (see above). Burukovsky (2000a) considered the type series of N. proximatus as comprising two species, with the Southeast Pacific specimens identified as N. tenuipes Spence Bate, 1888. He designated as lectotype for N. proximatus a specimen from Challenger station 146, near Marion Island, 46°46′S, 45°31′E, 2475 m. Komai & Komatsu (2016) considered the type series of N. proximatus as containing further species, with Japanese specimens being N. longirostris.