He described the species based on a specimen collected by French zoologist Achille Raffray in 1875 in Zanzibar.

In his 1878 description of the species, Dobson stated that its ears and tragus were similar in appearance to that of Hardwicke's woolly bat, Kerivoula hardwicki.

It meets the criteria to be listed as an endangered species because its area of occupancy is likely less than 500 km2 (190 sq mi), all individuals are likely in fewer than five locations, and the extent of its habitat is in decline.

[1] In 1999, MacPhee and Flemming considered it allegedly extinct since roughly 1878,[5] though it was rediscovered shortly after their paper was published, in 2000.

The Sukuma people believe that pneumonia can be treated by burning the body of a Tanzanian woolly bat and inhaling the smoke.