The species' natural history is very poorly known, and it is infrequently collected. This bat is strongly associated with moist habitats in Venezuela (Handley 1976), especially in lowland rainforest (Emmons and Feer 1997). Roosts in small clusters in colonies of up to at least 60 in caves, horizontal fallen logs, and deep cracks between rocks, one such roost was among large boulders in a riverbed, which were exposed during the dry season (LaVal 1977). A group of four found under a hollow log in Ecuador immediately vacated the roost when approached, then circled nearby and attempted to re-enter (Reid 2009). This small bat forages for insects, Lepidoptera in particular, flying close to the ground with a slow, fluttering, moth like flight (LaVal 1977). It is seldom caught in mist nets (Reid 2009). One pregnant female was captured in Colombia in September (Camargo and Tamsitt 1990). Five fossil specimens were recovered from Toca da Boa Vista, Bahia, Brazil (Czaplewski and Cartelle 1998).

This species is found in Central and South America. This species occurs from Costa Rica south to Peru, the Guianas, Trinidad and eastern Brazil (Simmons 2005), also in Ecuador (Albuja 1999) and Nicaragua (Medina-Fitoria et al. 2015). Not recorded in Paraguay (Gardner 2008).

Further studies are needed into the distribution, habitat, ecology, and threats to this species. Caves in central Brazil are threatened and need conservation measures to assure persistence. Conservation of cerrado habitats is needed.