Histoctopus is an octopus genus containing two species: Histoctopus zipkasae, the type species, and Histoctopus discus. The former is found in the south-west Pacific Ocean while the latter, is found in the Indian Ocean. The three taxa were described in 2009 by Mark D. Norman, Renata Boucher-Rodoni and F. G. Hochberg in the Journal of Molluscan Studies. The genus name is derived from octopus and the Greek word histos, meaning "web" or "tissue", in reference to the membrane on the outside of the arms. The type species was named zipkasae, "after the senior author's wonderful wife, Karen Zipkas", while the name of H. discus comes from the Latin discus, meaning "plate", in reference to the large suckers.