[3] It is endemic to the island of São Tomé, in the Gulf of Guinea off the western coast of Africa.

The bat's natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and caves.

This bat was first described in 1891 by the Portuguese zoologist José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage as Hipposideros thomensis, the specific name recording the fact that it is endemic to São Tomé.

[3] Both commersoni and it were formerly placed in the genus Hipposideros, but moved to the resurrected Macronycteris in 2017 on the basis of molecular evidence.

[2] São Tomé leaf-nosed bat inhabits primary and secondary moist lowland tropical forest.