[3] Before the discovery of Zygopauropus, adult pauropods were thought to have only nine or (rarely) ten pairs of legs.

[4] The genus Zygopauropus and its type species Z. hesperius were first described by the zoologists John W. MacSwain and Urless N. Lanham of the University of California at Berkeley in 1948.

These specimens include a male holotype, a female allotype, four paratypes (one male and three females), and four juveniles representing the first three stages of post-embryonic development, all found on the south slopes of Mount Diablo in Contra Costa county in California.

MacSwain and Lanham also found two adult male specimens in the town of Fairfax in Marin county in California.

[5][3] Three tube-like extensions (one anterior, one median, and one posterior) protrude from the temporal organ on each side of the head.

[3][5] Since the description of Zygopauropus and Aletopauropus by MacSwain and Lanham, only two other genera of pauropods, Amphipauropus and Cauvetauropus, have been found to have adults with no more than eight leg pairs.