[1] Species belonging to this genus are distributed in all major biogeographic realms except Antarctica, although there are only a handful of species from the Nearctic (B. muscicola) and Neotropical realm (B. campaneri and B. rochi)[2][3][4].

Researchers suspect that with increasing sampling efforts, more species will be discovered from these regions.

[1] Apart from other microcrustaceans such as cladocerans, ostracods and harpacticoid copepods, only a few genera of cyclopoid copepods have managed to access semiterrestrial habitats like mosses, leaf litter, tree holes, leaf axils, bromeliads and other phytotelmata, or even man-made microhabitats (water-filled tin cans, car tires).

[5][7] These habitats pose serious challenges to fully aquatic organisms, especially since they rely on passive means of dispersal (phoresis[8]).

Species of the genus Bryocyclops also inhabit cave pools, groundwater and other freshwater bodies.