The ecology and natural history of this bat is poorly known. It is found in evergreen forest and banana plantations. In Venezuela, two groups of 7 and 10 individuals were caught by hand from under dead banana leaves. This species apparently roosts attached to the underside of leaves, in contrast to T. tricolor, which mainly roosts inside of fresh, rolled (unfurling) leaves of Heliconia spp. (Wilson 2008). It is seldom caught in mist nets (See Tschapka et al. 2000). It feeds on insects (Reid 2009, Wilson 1978).

This species occurs in Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, an apparently isolated population occurs in eastern Nicaragua and Costa Rica (Simmons 2005, Wilson 2008). New records extended its distribution to the Atlantic Forest (Gregorin et al. 2006) and a gallery forest in the Cerrado (Bezerra et al. 2005). Recognition of a new species, T. devivoi by Gregorin et al. (2006), suggests that no verified records exist for Guyana.

Because of its wide distribution in tropical and subtropical forests, the species is found in several protected areas through its geographic range.