Roosting sites include caves, lava tubes and abandoned buildings.

It was described as a new species in 1907 by British mammalogist Gerald Edwin Hamilton Barrett-Hamilton.

[5] When Hamilton described it as a new species, he noted that it was similar in appearance to the brown long-eared bat, Plecotus auritus, but that it had "much larger wings.

It meets the criteria for this designation because its estimated area of occurrence is less than 3,000 km2 (1,200 sq mi), it is found in fewer than five locations, its population is declining, and it is losing habitat.

[1] Only two breeding colonies, one each on La Palma (in the Cuevas de los Murciélagos)[6] and Tenerife, are known; the larger La Palma colony is estimated to have declined by 80% in recent years.