Because of its wide range, common occurrence, and tolerance of habitat degradation, it is not considered to be threatened.

Its fur color is variable, ranging from reddish brown to gray, but it is generally darker than the species in the closely related genus Paratriaenops which also occur on Madagascar.

[4] In 2006, Julie Ranivo and Steven Goodman revised Madagascan Triaenops and found little variation among specimens of T. rufus from throughout the dry parts of the island.

[6] On his journey to Madagascar, Humblot had stayed in Somalia and Yemen, and Goodman and Ranivo concluded that he had probably collected the Triaenops there, after which their provenance was incorrectly recorded.

[1] Triaenops menamena is currently one of four living species in the genus Triaenops; a 2009 revision by Petr Benda and Peter Vallo split off the African T. afer and the Yemeni T. parvus from T. persicus and removed three other species, including two from Madagascar, to the separate genus Paratriaenops.

[10] In 2007 and 2008, Amy Russell and colleagues used phylogenetic and coalescent methodologies to investigate the history of the Triaenops group.

[11] Benda and Vallo also studied phylogenetic relationships in Triaenops and included Middle Eastern T. persicus and T. parvus in their analysis.

They found little resolution of relationships within Triaenops, but some evidence suggested that T. menamena is more closely related to the Middle Eastern species than to T. afer in mainland Africa; therefore, T. menamena may have reached Madagascar from the Middle East or northeastern Africa.

[12] Triaenops menamena is a medium-sized species with variable fur coloration, ranging from reddish brown to gray.

[25] Triaenops menamena mainly occurs in the dry regions of western Madagascar, but has also been recorded in humid areas in the far southeast and northeast,[8] and is found up to 1300 m (4300 ft) above sea level.

[29] Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) form the main component of its diet, but it also eats Coleoptera (beetles) and Hemiptera (bugs) and fewer members of some other insect orders.

[30] It is unclear how the ecological niches of Triaenops and the less frequently captured Paratriaenops furcula are separated, as both eat lepidopterans and occur in the same regions.

[1] Bats, mainly the large Hipposideros commersoni, are sometimes hunted for food in southwestern Madagascar, and T. menamena is also taken incidentally.