Western Atlantic: Bermuda, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, West Indies, Venezuela to Brazil (São Paulo). Central Atlantic: Ascension I. Eastern Atlantic: Ghana and some islands of the Gulf of Guinea (Manning & Chace 1990; Melo 1996; Alves et al. 2006).
Occurrence in northern and northeastern Brazil: PP: Holthuis et al. (1980); CE: Fausto Filho (1968), as Cycloxanthops denticulatus; PB: Melo & Veloso (2005); PE, AL: Rathbun (1900), as C. denticulatus; BA: Smith (1869), as Xantho denticulata.