''Chiltonia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of amphipod

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. Four species are known, three of which live in fresh waters. They were first discovered by Charles Chilton in 1898 and the genus ''Chiltonia'' was erected the following year by T. R. R. Stebbing in Chilton's honour.

''Chiltonia mihiwaka''

''C. mihiwaka'' was the first of the species of ''Chiltonia'' to be described, when Charles Chilton named it in 1898 as a species in the genus '' Hyalella''. Subsequent taxonomic splits have restricted the name to the populations in the Southland and

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

regions in New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasma ...

. Chilton's original material was collected on Mihiwaka, a hill near

Port Chalmers Port Chalmers is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The orig ...

. Adults are approximately long, wide and deep.

''Chiltonia enderbyensis''

''C. enderbyensis'' was named by Hurley in 1954 for the populations of ''Chiltonia'' living on New Zealand's subantarctic islands, namely Enderby Island (one of the

Auckland Islands The Auckland Islands ( Māori: ''Motu Maha'' "Many islands" or ''Maungahuka'' "Snowy mountains") are an archipelago of New Zealand, lying south of the South Island. The main Auckland Island, occupying , is surrounded by smaller Adams Islan ...

) and Campbell Island. Males are approximately long, wide and deep, while females are long, wide and deep.

''Chiltonia rivertonensis''

''C. rivertonensis'' was also named by Hurley in 1954, for a population living in small streams near Riverton, Southland. In November 2018 the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

classified ''C. rivertonensis'' as "Nationally Critical" under the

New Zealand Threat Classification System The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand. The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had some ...

. The species was judged as meeting the criteria for Nationally Critical threat status as a result of it occupying only in one location, the total area of which is less than 1 hectare. It is considered as being "Data Poor" and "Range Restricted" under that system.

''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 Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does incl ...

, ''C. minuta'' was collected under

kelp Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms. Kelp grows in "under ...

on a beach on Campbell Island.

Australia

Two species from Australia, ''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''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10449341 Gammaridea Freshwater crustaceans of New Zealand Crustacean genera Taxa named by Thomas Roscoe Rede Stebbing