The genus was previously only known from two species from highly disjunct localities – Ancyronyx variegatus from North America (described in 1824) and Ancyronyx acaroides from Palembang in Sumatra (described in 1896). This strange distribution pattern (and the fact that there were no new specimens of A. acaroides recovered) initially led 20th century specialists to question whether A. acaroides was indeed collected from Sumatra, or whether it was correctly designated to the genus as originally described. However, in 1991, new specimens of A. acaroides were rediscovered from Sumatra by the Austrian coleopterologists Manfred A. Jäch and S. Schödl, confirming its type locality. In addition they also discovered the species in Southeast Asia, including West Malaysia, Sarawak and Bali during 1992 and 1993. The species was also subsequently found in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.  Since then, nineteen new species of the genus have been described from Southeast Asia and China.