This bat occurs in a wide variety of tropical and subtropical habitats, including savanna, secondary riparian growth, xeric thorn forests, pine-oak forests, and both pristine and disturbed deciduous and evergreen rain and cloud forest, and clearings (Webster and Jones 1993). It roosts in hollow trees, caves, and tunnels (Reid 2009). In Mexico, most of the known records come from streams inside mature forests (Ceballos and Oliva 2005). The diet includes nectar and pollen of bananas and Mucuna, fruit of Acnistes, and moths (Howell and Burch 1974). Birth peaks have been recorded January to April and July to August (Webster and Jones 1993).

This species is known from Sinaloa (Mexico) to Panama, southeastern Colombia, Guyana, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and northwestern Brazil (Simmons 2005, Griffiths and Gardner 2008). It occurs from lowlands to 2,400 m (Reid 2009).

This species is found in protected areas.