[2][3] This species was first described by the Scottish zoologists William Thomas Calman and Isabella Gordon of the British Museum (Natural History) in 1933.

The original description is based on a male holotype found at a depth of 219 meters below the surface off the coast of MacRobertson Land.

Calman and Gordon named this species for Sir Douglas Mawson, who obtained this specimen on his voyage to the Antarctic region in 1931.

[5] The molecular evidence also indicates that the polymerous clade including Dodecolopoda and Decolopoda is nested within a monophyletic group containing the "longitarsal" species in the genus Colossendeis.

[4] Furthermore, Dodecolopoda exhibits some traits considered diagnostic for the genus Colessendeis, such as an unsegmented trunk and tiny genital pores.

[4] The polymerous genera Dodecolopoda and Decolopoda both differ from their close relatives in the genus Colessendeis not only by featuring more legs but also by retaining chelifores as adults.

These polymerous species walk with more coordination and precision than eight-legged sea spiders, which use a more casual gait.

[10][11] Specimens have been found off the South Shetland Islands, the Palmer Archipelago, and Enderby Land, as well as in the Ross Sea, caught at depths ranging from 146 to 549 meters below the surface.