Historically, members of this genus were placed within the genus
Octopus, but recognized as forming a distinct group and referred to as the
Octopus aegina species complex. The genus was originally described by Fischer in 1882. He assigned to it the already described species,
Octopus membranaceus (Quoy and Gaimard, 1832), as the
type species (not to be confused with
Enteroctopus membranaceus (Rochebrune and Mabille, 1889), the original types species of the genus
Enteroctopus). Robson in his review of octopus taxonomy in 1929 regarded
Amphioctopus membranaceus as a
nomen dubium, referring it to his newly named "
aegina species complex", a group of octopuses forming a distinct constellation characterized by
Octopus aegina. The genus
Amphioctopus was subsequently considered invalid. In 2002, Gleadall suggested that the
aegina species group represents a distinct genus with
Amphioctopus being the senior name. In 2004, Gleadall resurrected the genus
Schizoctopus and assigned
Octopus fangsiao as the type species. In 2005, Huffard and Hochberg, arguing that Robson's designation of
Octopus membranaceus as a
nomen dubium was premature and considering it a valid name, resurrected the genus name
Amphioctopus for the
Octopus aegina species complex. Huffard and Hochberg also found
Schizoctopus to be a junior synonym for
Amphioctopus. ==Species==