Halieutopsis stellifer was first formally described as Dibranchus stellifer in 1912 by the American ichthyologists Hugh McCormick Smith and Lewis Radcliffe with its type locality given as the Flores Sea off Sulawesi at 5°36'30"S, 120°49'00"E, Albatross station 5660, from a depth 692 fathoms (4,152 ft; 1,266 m).

[3] In 1967 Margaret G. Bradbury reclassified this species as a member of the genus Halieutopsis.

[4] The genus Halieutopsis is classified within the "Indo-Pacific clade" of the family Ogcocephalidae.

[5] The family Ogcocephalidae is classified in the monotypic suborder Ogcocephaloidei within the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes in the 5th edition of Fishes of the World.

The rostrum is quite blunt and clearly overhangs the mouth, with small, simple to three pointed tubercles.