The subspecies appear to have different ecological requirement. P. a. admiralitatum is a small island specialist, known mainly from below 200 m. This is a larger bat that roosts on branches of trees. P. a. solomonis is a smaller bat found mainly on moderate to larger islands, and ranges from lowland to montane forests. It is generally found from 400 to 900 m on Malaita. It roosts in small groups in tree cavities and beneath the overhangs of caves, or individually in lower canopy branches (T.H. Lavery pers. obs.). The ecology of the subspecies found on Mussau and Emirau Islands in the Matthias group , Islands is largely unknown, this is the largest of the subspecies.

P. admiralitatum incorporates four subspecies (P. a. admiralitatum, P. a. colonus, P. a. goweri, and P. a. solomonis), of which there are probably three distinct species once additional texonomic research is completed. P. a. admiralitatum is found in the Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago (excluding the St. Matthias Group), and smaller outlying islands in Solomon Islands from Buka to Malaita (Lavery et al. 2016). A record of it from mainland Bougainville Island may not be valid, but it may be present as there are five specimens of it from the Carteret island group, only 90 km northeast of Buka Island (S. Hamilton pers. comm.). P. a. solomonisoccurs throughout most larger Solomon Islands from the Western Province to Guadalcanal and Malaita (T.H. Lavery pers. obs.). The species also occurs in the Matthias group, on Mussau and Emirau Islands.

This species, P. admiralitatum, is listed on Appendix II of CITES. It is not known if it is present in any protected areas and there is an urgent need for research on the taxonomy of this species, as well as on its distribution, ecology, and threats.