Chiltonia is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of amphipod

Amphipoda

Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. The name amphipoda means "different-footed", and refers to the different forms of appendages, unlike isopods, where all the legs are alike. Of the 7,000 species, 5,500 are classified...

 crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s endemic to New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. They were first discovered by Charles Chilton

Charles Chilton (zoologist)

Charles Chilton was a New Zealand zoologist, the first rector to be appointed in Australasia, and the first person to be awarded a D.Sc. degree in New Zealand.-Biography:...

 in 1898 and the genus Chiltonia was erected the following year by T. R. R. Stebbing

Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing

The Reverend Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing F.R.S., F.L.S. was a British zoologist, who described himself as "a serf to natural history, principally employed about Crustacea". Educated in London and Oxford, he only took to natural history in his thirties, having worked as a teacher until then...

 in Chilton's honour.

Chiltonia mihiwaka

C. mihiwaka was the first of the species of Chiltonia to be described

Alpha taxonomy

Alpha taxonomy is the discipline concerned with finding, describing and naming species of living or fossil organisms. This field is supported by institutions holding collections of these organisms, with relevant data, carefully curated: such institutes include natural history museums, herbaria and...

, when Charles Chilton

Charles Chilton (zoologist)

Charles Chilton was a New Zealand zoologist, the first rector to be appointed in Australasia, and the first person to be awarded a D.Sc. degree in New Zealand.-Biography:...

 named it in 1898 as a species in the genus Hyalella

Hyalella

Hyalella is a genus of amphipods, containing the following species:*Hyalella anophthalma Ruffo, 1957*Hyalella araucana Grosso & Peralta, 1999*Hyalella armata *Hyalella azteca...

. Subsequent taxonomic splits

Lumpers and splitters

Lumping and splitting refers to a well-known problem in any discipline which has to place individual examples into rigorously defined categories. The lumper/splitter problem occurs when there is the need to create classifications and assign examples to them, for example schools of literature,...

 have retricted the name to the populations in Southland Region

Southland Region

Southland is New Zealand's southernmost region and is also a district within that region. It consists mainly of the southwestern portion of the South Island and Stewart Island / Rakiura...

 and Otago

Otago

Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...

 on New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

's South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

. Chilton's original material was collected on the hill Mihiwaka, near Port Chalmers

Port Chalmers

Port Chalmers is a suburb and the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand, with a population of 3,000. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast from Dunedin's city centre....

, Otago

Otago

Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...

. Adults are approximately 5 mm (0.196850393700787 in) long, 1.25 mm (0.0492125984251969 in) wide and 2 mm (0.078740157480315 in) deep.

Chiltonia enderbyensis

C. enderbyensis was named by Hurley in 1954 for the populations of Chiltonia living on New Zealand's Sub-Antarctic Islands

New Zealand sub-antarctic islands

The five southernmost groups of the New Zealand Outlying Islands form the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic islands. These islands are collectively designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site....

, namely Enderby Island (one of the Auckland Islands

Auckland Islands

The Auckland Islands are an archipelago of the New Zealand Sub-Antarctic Islands and include Auckland Island, Adams Island, Enderby Island, Disappointment Island, Ewing Island, Rose Island, Dundas Island and Green Island, with a combined area of...

) and Campbell Island

Campbell Island, New Zealand

Campbell Island is a remote, subantarctic island of New Zealand and the main island of the Campbell Island group. It covers of the group's , and is surrounded by numerous stacks, rocks and islets like Dent Island, Folly Island , Isle de Jeanette Marie, and Jacquemart Island, the latter being the...

. Males are approximately 8 mm (0.31496062992126 in) long, 1.75 mm (0.0688976377952756 in) wide and 1.5 mm (0.0590551181102362 in) deep, while females are 6 millimetre long, 1.5 mm (0.0590551181102362 in) wide and 1.5 mm (0.0590551181102362 in) deep.

Chiltonia rivertonensis

C. rivertonensis was also named by Hurley in 1954, for a population living in small streams near Riverton

Riverton, New Zealand

Riverton or Aparima is a small town at the south of the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the Southland region and lies at the western end of Oreti Beach, 30 kilometres west of Invercargill on the Southern Scenic Route. It is approx. 45 km from Stewart Island and provides a safe harbour...

, Southland.

Chiltonia minuta

C. minuta was the last of the four species to be described, and its affinities remain unclear. Whereas all the other species occur in fresh water

Freshwater

Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...

, C. minuta was collected under kelp

Kelp

Kelps are large seaweeds belonging to the brown algae in the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera....

 on a beach on Campbell Island.

Australia

Two species from Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, C. subtenuis and C. australis were described by Sayce in 1901 and 1902, respectively. Both are now considered to belong to the related genus Austrochiltonia.