This species has only been collected in primary forest and in areas which are conserved. It inhabits Andean forests, including mostly well conserved but also fragmented habitats (Gardner 1976, Albuja-V. 1991, Tavares et al. 2014). One Ecuadorian female specimen housed at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution was pregnant (foetus crown-to-rump length, 27 mm) when captured on 12 February 1983 (Tavares et al. 2014), and no signs of reproductive activity were observed in specimens from Peru caught in early May (Gardner 1976). As these bats are frugivorous (Gardner 1977), the primary factor limiting their distribution may be the year-round availability of consumable fruit (Tavares et al. 2014). This species has a generation length of sizx years (Pacifici et al. 2013).

This species occurs in the eastern slopes of the Eastern Andes of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, over an elevational range between 1,180 and 2,763 m asl (Tavares et al. 2014). A record from French Guiana is erroneous (Charles-Dominique et al. 2001), and possibly represents Vampyriscus brocki (Arroyo-Cabrales 2008). A record from the National Park Cueva de Los Guacharos, Colombia (Lemke et al. 1982) was attributed to the recently described form Vampyressa sinchi (Tavares et al. 2014). This species is restricted to a relatively small geographic area.

This species occurs in protected areas in Ecuador (although it is only known from three records in the country) and Peru (at least two protected areas). The only known Colombian record is from the Tamá National Park. It might however be present in several protected areas along its distribution.