This genus is present in both the Old and New World and is certainly native to all continents except Antarctica and Europe. In Europe only a single species, Anochetus ghilianii, has been found, and it is not certain it is native to its European range (Province of Cadiz and Gibraltar).[4] However A. ghilianii is native to Morocco.
Anochetus is of some note due to it being one of the relatively few genera that possess trap-jaws, or specialized long mandibles that have a rapid closing mechanism. However, it is the only other genus, other than Odontomachus that uses the mandibles for predator evasion as well as prey capture.[citation needed]
^Schmidt, C. A; Shattuck, S. O. (2014). "The Higher Classification of the Ant Subfamily Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a Review of Ponerine Ecology and Behavior". Zootaxa. 3817 (1): 1–242. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3817.1.1. PMID24943802.
^ abcdefDe Andrade, M. L. (1994). "Fossil Odontomachiti Ants from the Dominican Republic (Amber Collection Stuttgart: Hymenoptera, Formicidae. VII: Odontomachiti)". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde. Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie). 199: 1–28.
^MacKay, W. P. (1991). "Anochetus brevidentatus, new species, a second fossil Odontomachiti ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". Journal of the New York Entomological Society. 99: 138–140.
^Baroni Urbani, C. (1980). "Anochetus corayi n. sp., the first fossil Odontomachiti ant. (Amber Collection Stuttgart: Hymenoptera, Formicidae. II: Odontomachiti)". Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde. Serie B (Geologie und Paläontologie). 55: 1–6.