We describe Lonchophylla inexpectata sp. n. from the Caatinga of Brazil. This new species can be distinguished from all known species of Lonchophylla that occur in Brazil by dental traits, cranial size, and fur colour. Specimens of L. inexpectata have been misidentified as L. mordax; but L. inexpectata is a pale-venter species, similar in external appearance to L. dekeyseri. We have found L. inexpectata in the Caatinga of North-eastern Brazil; L. mordax along the eastern border of the Caatinga and in the Atlantic Forest–Caatinga ecotone in North-eastern Brazil; and L. dekeyseri in the Cerrado of Mid-western Brazil, in the Brazilian Cerrado–Caatinga ecotone, and as far west as the Cerrado of Bolivia.