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Coloration is reddish brown, dark brown, or sooty brown above and somewhat paler below.
This genus resembles Emballonura but has only one pair of upper incisors, as opposed to two pairs, and there are differences in the skulls. Coleura does not have wing sacs. Coleura roosts in caves and houses, generally in crevices and cracks. C. afra has been found in the same cave with Triaenops persicus and Asellia tridens. Thousands of bats have been found in a cave partially filled with water during high tide on the rocky coast of the Indian Ocean.