The fraternal fruit-eating bat is listed as being a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the IUCN Red List due to its commonness, large range, and lack of significant population declines.

The fraternal fruit-eating bat was first described in 1924 by Harold Elmer Anthony on the basis of a specimen collected at an altitude of 2,000 ft (610 m) in Portovelo, el Oro, Ecuador.

It was subsequently considered a subspecies of Jamaican fruit bat (Artibeus jamaicensis), until it was raised to species level again by Karl Koopman in 1978 on the basis of morphological data.

The specific name fraterculus means "little brother" in Modern Latin, referring to the fact that the fraternal fruit-eating bat is the smallest species in the group of large Artibeus.

[3] It diverged from other species around 2.3 million years ago, after the closure of the Panamian land bridge.

It is the palest South American Artibeus, and is similar in appearance to Anderson's fruit-eating bat, but smaller.

[2] The fraternal fruit-eating bat's facial lines are faint and hardly visible, and some individuals have lower stripes that are unnoticeable.

[2] The fraternal fruit-eating bat is mainly a frugivore, feeding on a wide variety of fruit such as Ficus figs, mangoes, loquats, Brosimum alicastrum, Muntingia calabura, Psidium guajava, Syzygium jambos, Iochroma arborescens, Solanum crinitipes, Styrax subargentea, Cecropia obtusifolia, and Cecropia polystachya.

During the dry season, males with descended gonads and females with developed nipples have been reported in September.

It roosts in hollow trees, shrubs, caves, termite mounds, bridges, churches, houses, gardens, and mines.

[2] The fraternal fruit-eating bat is listed as being a species of least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on the IUCN Red List due to its large range, commonness, and lack of significant population decline.

However, urban populations from Guayaquil in Ecuador have been found to have elevated levels of lead in their vital organs, and heavy metal poisoning may be a localized threat to the species.