It is mainly sedentary and found across central and eastern Africa, from Chad and South Sudan in the north to Mozambique in the southeast of its range.

The long-toed lapwing was formally described by Gustav Hartlaub in 1855 under the binomial name Chettusia crassirostris in the Journal für Ornithologie.

[3] Vanellus comes from the Medieval Latin 'vannus', meaning winnowing fan, a reference to the sound of the wings of lapwings in flight.

Members of Charadriidae generally hunt invertebrates by sight with a run-and-pause technique and most have a socially monogamous mating system.

[9] The long-toed lapwing has similar habitat preferences to the African Jacana, both using floating weeds and fringing vegetation around water.

[11] The long-toed lapwing is unusual among lapwings as it feeds with behaviour like jacanas, foraging for aquatic insects, larvae, beetles, ants, dragonfly nymphs, and snails on the surface of floating aquatic vegetation, spreading out its weight through the support of its long toes.

Chicks are fiercely defended by the parents from avian predators including African fish-eagles, harriers, and coucals.

[15] Persistent alarm calls and swooping attacks are employed as intense anti-predator responses, as well as escape flights during which birds fly and hover over water.

[15] The nest can be made of plant material or mud, located on the ground near the edge of water or on floating vegetation.

[16] Female long-toed lapwings lay 1–4 brown or olive-coloured eggs with dark markings and incubate them for 27–30 days.

Parental behaviour, such as vigilance and tending young, reduces the foraging time of adults during the breeding season.

[21] Human encroachment on aquatic areas, including with livestock, poses a threat to the habitat of long-toed lapwings.