It is found in tropical South America east of the Andes, especially in the Amazon rainforest.

It has been recorded as a vagrant to the central and northern Lesser Antilles, such as St. Kitts, Barbados and Dominica.

[1][2] Their preferred habitat consists of riverbanks, in primary and secondary rainforest, at elevations between sea level and about 800 m (2,600 ft).

U. leilus is sometimes confused with the similar-looking U. fulgens, but that species has a separate distribution (west of the Andes in South America, Central America and Mexico) and is slightly smaller with less white to the "tail".

As appears to be the case for all Urania, the larvae of U. leilus feed exclusively on leaves of the toxic spurge Omphalea.