[2] The genus name (Aproteles) – "incomplete at the front" (Greek), is a reference to the lack of lower incisors; the species name (bulmerae) was assigned for Susan Bulmer, the archaeologist who excavated the site from which the original fossils were recovered.

In 1975, it was discovered in the Hindenburg Wall area of Western Province, Papua New Guinea, in a cave known as Luplupwintem.

However, two years later, the colony had been decimated, apparently by hunters who entered the cave with shotguns and store-bought ropes.

The only other populations reported from recent times are from the vicinity of Herowana in Eastern Highlands Province and from the vicinity of Crater Mountain in Chimbu Province, both in Papua New Guinea [4] Bulmer's fruit bat lives in cave-dwelling colonies.

A newborn Bulmer's fruit bat is carried for the first few weeks of its life by its mother while she forages.