The genus name Chaneya was coined by Yufei Wang and Steven Manchester as a patronym honoring Ralph Works Chaney,[2] who provided the first description of the Shanwang formation species "Antholithes malvoides"[3][4] and pioneered the comparative study of Chinese and North American Tertiary floras.

[7] Precise systematic placement has proven difficult,[8] as no specific leaf type has been assigned, probably because the leaves did not be carried by the wind as easily as fruits or flowers.

Two alternative whorls of five carpels (6 – 8 mm diameter smooth outer surface fruit bodies) placed near the margins of thickened disk with small undeveloped and possibly abortive ovaries, but unknown plant cuticles.

The species was described in 2012 by XinXin Feng and JianHua Jin from specimens collected in the Changchang Formation of Hainan Island, located off the coast of South China.

Two alternative whorls of five carpels (9 mm diameter smooth outer surface fruit bodies) placed near the margins of thickened disk and can identify by clear stomates with well preserved cuticles[2].Chaneya tenuis differs from this by large size petals.

[16] Distinct venation with several main veins arising at the base, running subparallel across the lobes while weak secondaries ascending steeply towards the apex.

[20] Early Palaeogene in Bikaner and Barmer (Rajasthan, India) and Middle miocene in European samples from South West Germany (O¨hningen), Most Basin, Czech Republic.

They also deemed the species Getonia truncata, Carpinus involvens, and Diospyros brachysepala as junior synonyms of Chaneya membranosa[22] A flower with calyx lacking and subequal sized petals.

[23] Oligocene in Gaoling village, Ningming County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China Fossils of Chaneya palaeogaea were described from the Late Eocene sediments outcropping at Kučlín near Bílina in northwestern Czech Republic.