Originally described by Oldfield Thomas in 1891, it was later synonymized with the little tube-nosed bat (M. aurata).

The ashy-gray bat was one of 126 new species found in the Greater Mekong region during 2011, discovered by a team from the Hungarian Natural History Museum (HNHM) and Fauna and Flora International (FFI).

[4] However, further analysis found that populations of M. cineracea belong to Thomas's M. feae, which was also found to be distinct from M. aurata; M. feae was thus revived as a distinct species.

[4][6] It lacks the golden guard hairs so common in other members of the genus Murina.

[4] This bat is small enough to fit in a person's hand, weighing 4.0 and 5.5 grams (0.14 and 0.19 oz).