Members of this group can be locally abundant in primary lowland rainforest, hill forest, Melaleuca savannah and monsoon forests, and in derived secondary forest, native gardens and sago palm and other plantations. During the day animals roost singly or in mother-infant pairs within understorey to mid-canopy vegetation, usually among dry leaves. Pregnant females have been collected on New Guinea in almost every month but there is good evidence for seasonal reproduction at some localities, albeit without island-wide synchrony. As in all other pteropodids, females carry a single embryo and the young are initially carried during foraging activities but later they are left behind at a roost site. Gestation and weaning periods are not known.

This composite ‘species’ has been recorded from the islands of Halmahera, Obi, Batjan, Waigeo, and Salawati (all Indonesia), and eastwards to the island of New Guinea (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea) and its various satellite groups including the Aru and Kei Islands (Indonesia), the Admiralty Group and the Bismarck Archipelago (Flannery 1995a,b). The total elevational range of all members of the group is from sea level to 1,900 m a.s.l.

This species is likely to be found in almost every protected area within its broader distribution. Work is needed to determine the taxonomic status of populations on the main island of New Guinea where several species of the group may be found in sympatry, and on the Kei Islands, the Bismarck, Admiralty and St Matthias groups, and in the Solomon Islands. Once the taxonomy is resolved, the status of individual species will need to be reassessed and taxon-specific conservation measures may need to be developed.