Little golden-mantled flying fox on the end of its wings. The little golden-mantled flying fox is native to the Philippines and Miangas (Palmas), the northernmost island in Indonesia. In the Philippines, it is known from Balut, Camiguin, Leyte, Maripipi, Masbate, Mindanao, Mindoro, Negros, Panay, Sibuyan, Siquijor and Tablas. It occurs at altitudes of up to about and is most common on smaller islands. Its habitat is primary forest and well-grown secondary forest. The little golden-mantled flying fox is a solitary species and does not roost in large groups as do many other fruit bats. Instead it makes a nest and roosts in a tree.
Black flying fox roosts with the grey-headed flying fox ("Pteropus poliocephalus"), the spectacled flying fox ("P. conspicillatus"), and/or the little red flying fox ("P. scapulatus"). They roost in mangroves, paperbark swamps, patches of rainforest and bamboo forests, and very rarely in caves or underneath overhangs. Black flying foxes breed once a year. A single young is born and carried by its mother for the first month of life, after which it is left behind in the roost when the mother is out foraging at night. Black flying foxes eat pollen and nectar from native eucalyptus, lilypillies, paperbark, and turpentine trees. When native foods