Occurs in lowland and medium-altitude rainforests (Van Rompaey and Colyn 2013). Two specimens identified as this species by Gaubert et al. (2006) from Kakanga and Mukulu, in southern DR Congo, apparently were collected in deciduous forest.

Nearly endemic to DR Congo, where confined to an area between the Congo, Lualaba and Oubangui Rivers (Van Rompaey and Colyn 2013). However, in 2005 one individual has been photographed for the first time in the wild, in Nyungwe N. P., Rwanda (Dinets 2011). The status of this species in Uganda is unclear: Bere (1962) mentioned its presence from the Semliki Forest, and skins of genet kittens from the Bwamba Forest in the Toro District of Uganda, an eastern extension of the Semliki Forest, seemed to represent this species (Van Rompaey and Colyn 2013). Kingdon (1977) observed a specimen along a forest road in western Uganda. Gaubert et al. (2006) provided museum records that expand the range 500 km south, on the left bank of the Congo R. Recorded to 1,800 m a.s.l.

There are records from the Ituri Forest and Okapi Faunal Reserve, and it probably occurs in several other protected areas in its range (Van Rompaey and Colyn 2013). Nyungwe N. P. (Rwanda) currently offers better protection than any protected areas in DR Congo (Hart and Hall 1996, Plumptre et al. 2002).