This bat usually forages near streams and in moist areas. It prefers multistratal evergreen forest and forage in clearings and forest edges and forest corridors (Eisenberg 1989). Clearings and corridors are both natural and man made. In Mexico it has also been reported for secondary forests, croplands and grasslands (de Grammont pers. comm.). Roosting colonies average about 12 individuals. It may roost with other species in hollow trees or caves. Males defend harems, they have well-developed wing sacs in their ante-brachial membranes and emit scent while flapping their wings in ritualized combat (Bradbury and Emmons 1974). This species is an aerial insectivore that forages in background cluttered space.

This species is found in Central and South America. This species ranges from Jalisco and Veracruz (Mexico) to Bolivia, Guianas, and eastern Brazil south to Rio de Janeiro, Trinidad and Tobago (Simmons 2005). It is widely distributed at low elevations, generally below 500 m asl (Eisenberg 1989).

Retention of primary forest is the recommended conservation action. This species occurs in some protected areas, as with most New World emballonurid bats because they are usually widely distributed.