It consists of four species found in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico and the southwestern United States.

[2][3] American arachnologist Martin Hammond Muma [es] created this genus in 1951.

[2][3] A nomen nudum, C. coachella, was listed by American entomologists Gary Allan Polis and Sharon J. McCormick in 1986 as prey of the scorpion Paruroctonus mesaensis, but this species was not formally described.

[1]: 85  In an unpublished manuscript he wrote shortly before he died, Muma proposed a new subfamily, Hemerotrechinae, characterized by two tarsal claws on leg I and males which lack a mesal groove on their fixed cheliceral finger.

[7] An analysis by American arachnologist Paula E. Cushing and colleagues suggests the most recent common ancestor for Chanbria was in the Late Miocene.

[10] Juveniles also exhibit avoidance behavior, running away when they encounter similarly sized arthropods.

[2] Its type locality is the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, California; another specimen was collected in Sonora, Mexico, 20 miles (32 km) southeast of San Luis Río Colorado.