 The taxonomic history of this species and its infraspecific arrangement was complicated by uncertainty regarding the sources of specimens, clarified in part by James E. Hill's monograph on the genus, then a statistical analysis of characters using a large sample of specimens by Darrell Kitchener and A, Suyanto in 2002 that also determined type locations for three subspecies and other undiagnosed specimens.Following these revisions, three subspecies were recognised by the Chiroptera work for "Mammal Species of the World" (2005)

Revisions in the late twentieth century recognised other named taxa as subspecies, but subsequent revisions saw cause for elevation to species status, namely "Miniopterus paululus", to which the subspecific name "witkampi" also refers, and "Miniopterus shortridgei".The conservation status of the species was evaluated in 2008 as least concern, and that population trend is assumed to be stable.