[1] During the day it can be found roosting in the palm tree Copernicia gigas and in human-made structures.

[6] Specimens have been collected from Trinidad, Cuba (type locality),[3] as well as the Cuban municipalities of Omaja and Guaro (near Preston).

[7] In 1911, Glover Morrill Allen hypothesized that the ancestor of the little goblin bat originated in Central America, and dispersed to Cuba by way of the Yucatan land bridge, which no longer exists.

[8] This hypothesis of Cuban Mormopterus originating in Central America was echoed by Karl Koopman in 1989, as per Mancina 2007.

This species's holotype is a male specimen collected by Frank M. Chapman of the American Museum of Natural History.

The little goblin bat is placed in the kalinowskii group, which also contains the following species:[2] It is insectivorous, locating insects while in flight using echolocation.

It meets the criteria for this assessment because its area of occupancy is less than 2,000 km2 (770 sq mi), and there is a projected decline in the extent and quality of its habitat.