It is poorly known. It is found in evergreen and deciduous lowland forest and forest edge. Handley (1976) reported M. schmidtorum roosting in tree holes and recorded captures of this species from a variety of habitats including evergreen forest, thorn forest, swamps, pastures, and orchards. In French Guiana, it was netted in ground-level mistnets in well-drained primary forest (Simmons and Voss 1998). Small groups roost in hollow trees. Moths are included in the diet (Howell and Burch 1974).

This species occurs in Cozumel Island, eastern Chiapas and southern Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico), northern Guatemala, and Belize through Central America to Venezuela, northeastern Peru and Brazil (Simmons 2005, Williams and Genoways 2008). It occurs in lowlands only (Reid 2009). It has not been recorded from either Suriname or Guyana. Also found in southeastern Peru (Solari et al. 2006) and Bolivia (Aguirre et al. 2010).

Forest retention is needed. In Mexico is listed as threatened under NOM - 059 - SEMARNAT - 2001 (Arroyo-Cabrales pers. comm.).