This bat is endemic to the Azores. A 1993 morphological comparison found it smaller than the related Leisler's bat, and a 2026 study confirmed its presence on Flores.
A 1993 comparison of specimens reported that the Azorean bat was smaller than the related Leisler's bat and had a shorter forearm.
On Flores, the westernmost island group of the Azores, the Azorean bat had not previously been confirmed. In September 2024, researchers placed automatic recorders at ten sites and recorded sounds for at least two consecutive days at each. They detected two bat species, confirming the Azorean bat on Flores for the first time.
Madeiran pipistrelles accounted for 99.6% of recorded bat passes. Azorean bats were detected in small numbers at several sites in central and southern Flores, between 8:23 p.m. and 5:40 a.m. Earlier short surveys had not recorded them. Longer recordings at previously surveyed sites added a new island record and broadened the known distribution of the species.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
At ten sites on Flores, the Azorean bat was detected in small numbers at only a few locations. The study shows that brief surveys can miss a rare species and identifies continued acoustic monitoring as a way to clarify its distribution on the island.