[3] Tomes assigned the specific epithet australis when he first regarded the population as endemic to Australia, but realised the series of specimens he assembled for his revision included those collected in Timor and presumed they also occurred at other islands of the regions.

While recognising this as a misnomer, Tomes noted he had already applied this name in museum collections prior to publication and conserved his first choice to avoid any subsequent confusion.

[2] The author also noted a specimen from the Leyden Museum in his monograph, previously exhibited at that institution with the name Vespertilio tibialis but did not appear in a formal description.

[3] The conservation status of the species was evaluated most recently in 2021 as "least concern", and the population trend was assumed to be stable.

Misattribution between this and other species of Miniopterus in Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea islands has led to taxonomic uncertainty and therefore doubt on any population's trajectory.