 It is known to be infected with the parasite "Polychromophilus melanipherus", which helps support the hypothesis that Haemosporidiasina transitioned from avian hosts to bat hosts in a single evolutionary event.The 2016 study concluded that it was likely that malaria parasites affecting humans and rodents evolved from parasites affecting bats.The African long-fingered bat's evolutionary lineage diverged from other long-fingered bats approximately 20 million years ago.