The Florida Trap-jaw Ant (Odontomachus brunneus) ranges from Texas across the southern Gulf states to the Florida Keys. It lives in forests, upland scrub and sandhill, nesting in rotting wood, leaf litter, sandy soil and at the bases of trees. Odontomachus clarus lives farther west, from Arizona and New Mexico into Mexico. The Desert Trap-jaw Ant (O. desertorum) is restricted to the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northwestern Mexico.
The Florida Scrub Trap-jaw Ant (O. relictus) is found only on the sand ridges of south-central Florida, where it nests deep in loose sand.
Two more are probably introduced. The Two-spined Trap-jaw Ant (O. haematodus), native to South America, is established along the Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. The Rough-node Trap-jaw Ant (O. ruginodis) is found in southern and central Florida, mostly in disturbed and urban areas.