The Umboi Tube-nosed Bat is associated with closed-canopy, primary tropical moist forest. In PNG it is reportedly rarely present in early secondary growth forest or plantations (Bonaccorso 1998). In the Solomon Islands it is usually the most abundant species in both primary and secondary forest. Flannery (1995) suggests it may be more common in primary forest, and capture rates can be high in old growth forests (T. Leary pers. comm.). Recent surveys in Solomon Islands however, found no difference in capture rates between logged and unlogged forest (T. Lavery pers. comm.).
Animals roost individually or occasionally in pairs amongst dense foliage in trees and high shrubs (Bonaccorso 1998, T. Leary pers. comm.). The species is suggested to be a dietary specialist feeding primarily on figs (Bonaccorso 1998), but has also been observed feeding on other small forest fruits such as Syzygium spp. (T. Leary pers. comm.). Little is known of the reproduction of the species but likely bears a single young.

The Umboi Tube-nosed Bat is present in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. In Papua New Guinea it is found on the Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, New Ireland), on the islands of Umboi, Buka and Bougainville (Bonaccorso 1998). Bonaccorso (1998) also records it on Manus Island in the Admiralty Archipelago, although Aplin et al. (2015) suggests that the Manus population more closely resemble the ‘N. albiventer’ form. The identity of a Nyctimene species recently recorded on Mussau Island in the St Matthaias Island Group is currently unknown and may be N. vizzcaccia, but according to Aplin et al. (2015) has closer affinities to N. albiventer. It is present over much of the Solomon Islands west of Malaita (Simmons 2005) including Guadalcanal, Ysabel, Choiseul, Fauro, Kolombangara, New Georgia and Vangunu islands. The species ranges from sea level to 1,800 m asl. (Bonaccorso 1998).

It is not known if the species is present in any protected areas, and this is not likely to afford the species much protection, as at least in the Bismarck Archipelago the majority of protected areas were either logged or cleared between 1972 and 2002 (Shearman and Bryan 2011).
Further studies are needed into the distribution, abundance, natural history, and threats to this species (Bonaccorso 1998) as well taxonomic clarification.