The holotype of V. elisabethae was collected in 1961 in a montane evergreen forest (approximately 1,500 meters above sea level) in "Rancho Mojica", a locality 32 km far from Changuinola in Panama.

[2] The species name honors Elisabeth Klara Viktoria Kalko, for her important contributions to bat ecology.

Kalko worked intensively in Panama, mainly in Barro Colorado Island.

A recent study obtained cytochrome b gene sequences from the holotype, including it in a phylogenetic analysis of the genus.

In the phylogeny it is recovered as the sister group of a clade composed by V. melissa and V.