It is probably a understorey, forest dependent species. It has been recorded from caves, and found roosting in a small group under a house in forest on Borneo (Payne et al. 1985). They often forage over small streams in forest, and so perhaps it is water dependent. There were about 15-20 individuals were observed foraging over small streams in the forest trail of Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak (I. Azhar pers. comm). In Kawag Rainforest Lodge, Sabah, this species have been found roosting under a boulder near a waterfall (I. Azhar pers. comm). They have also been found roosting under rock near streams and also in fallen logs (S. Bumrungsri pers. comm). It was collected from pristine lowland evergreen forest in Thailand near a peat swamp, and was also found in peat swamp in Peninsular Malaysia (Bumrungsri, et al. 2006). There are no caves in the vicinity of the locality in Thailand suggesting that it may roost elsewhere (Bumrungsri et al. 2006).

This species is known from Peninsular Malaysia and extreme southeastern Thailand (Bumrungsri et al. 2006), few localities in Malaysian Borneo (Kubah National Park, Gunung Mulu National Park (Sarawak), Kawag Forest Lodge, Imbak Canyon Conservation Area, Gua Madai (Sabah), unpublished data) and also from Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo (Puri 1997). Specimens from Sumatra were identified as M. annectans by Hill and Topal (1973) and the species may not occur there. The one locality in Thailand is at 100 m asl.

It has been recorded on Borneo from Kayan Mentarang National Park (Puri 1997) and is found also in other protected areas throughout its range. Most of the records from Malaysian Borneo were from totally protected areas. This species has only been rarely collected and appears to have an ecology that is different from other Myotis and therefore needs to be studied further.