Claim: Philpott likely collected the holotype specimen at the New River Estuary, the same area where the Sandy Point population was discovered in 1981; then in 1984, a second population was found at Tiwai Point, at the entrance to Bluff Harbour on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
Evidence: Philpott likely collected the holotype specimen at the New River Estuary, at the mouths of the Waihopai and Oreti Rivers, the same area where the Sandy Point population was discovered in 1981. In 1984 a second population was found at Tiwai Point near Bluff, and 10 males and 5 females were collected there in a 2011 survey. Tiwai Point lies at the entrance to Bluff Harbour on the southern coast of the South Island of New Zealand.