Peripatoides indigo is one of 9 currently described species of velvet worm endemic to New Zealand. The Māori name of the velvet worm is ngaokeoke, from the Māori word 'ngaoki' - to crawl. The Onchyphora phylum is translated to mean 'claw bearer', and then splits off into the Peripatidae and Peripatopsidae, the latter of which the Peripatoides indigo is part of. These animals are frequently called 'living fossils' because they remain relatively unchanged after 500 million years, and are thought to form a link between the arthropods and annelids.Fossils of Peripatus have been found in the Cambrian Burgess Shale sediments, and were originally marine organisms dwelling in shallow waters