In South Asia, this species is found in prime forests and tea estates near to water source. It roosts in tunnels, caves, bridges, palm fronds, crevices in old buildings, cracks and hollows between wooden beams (Aul and Vijaykumar 2003) either singly or in small groups of a few individuals (Bates and Harrison 1997). In Myanmar the species has been recorded in lowland forests and agricultural areas adjacent to limestone karst, it has also been collected in a limestone cave in disturbed forest (P. Bates pers. comm. 2006). In Viet Nam (Borissenko and Kruskop 2003), Thailand (S. Bumrungsri pers. comm.) and the Philippines, it has been recorded near to streams in lowland forest, disturbed forest and agricultural areas. In the Philippines, it roosts in caves (Tanalgo et al. 2011, Phelps et al., 2016) and in tunnels and has been reported roosting beneath a large rock over a stream (Taylor, 1934). In Indonesia (Sumatra), several individuals were captured over a slow-moving river (Huang et al. 2014).

This wide-ranging species has been recorded from South Asia, southern China and Southeast Asia. In South Asia, this species is presently known from India (Andaman and Nicobar Islands [Great Nicobar, Little Nicobar and Car Nicobar], Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu) (Aul and Vijaykumar 2003, Molur et al. 2002, Vanitharani 2006, Wordley et al. 2014). It has been recorded from sea level to around 800 m asl (Molur et al. 2002). In China, it is found in Guangdong, Hainan and Hong Kong (Smith and Xie 2008, Hu et al. 2014) as well as Yunnan Province in XishuangbannaTropical Botanical Garden (A. Hughes pers. comm. 2018). In mainland Southeast Asia, it ranges from Myanmar in the west, through Thailand, Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. Within insular Southeast Asia, it has been recorded from Indonesia (the islands of Java, Lombok, Sumatra and Sulawesi), Borneo (Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia) and the Philippines, where it has been recorded from sea level to 800 m asl (Heaney et al. 1998) although there is a record from 1,450 m asl on Mount Isarog in the southeastern portion of Luzon Island. There are records from the Philippine islands of Bohol, Catanduanes, Luzon (Camarines Sur, Cagayan, Laguna, Pampanga, Quezon, and Rizal provinces), Mindanao (Lanao del Norte Province, Misamis Occidental), Negros, and Palawan (Heaney et al. 1998) and Polillo (P. Alviola pers. comm. 2018).

The species has been recorded from many protected areas. Within India, the species has been recorded from the Silent Valley National Park in Kerala, Agasthiyamalai Biosphere Reserve in Tamil Nadu (Vanitharani 2006) and Kanha National Park in Madhya Pradesh. Further studies on distribution, abundance, breeding biology, general ecology and population monitoring are recommended (Molur et al. 2002).