The fringed myotis is a bat in Colorado. Open occurrence databases hold just 71 records for it here, and almost all of them come from museum specimens and bat surveys rather than casual sightings. A small, night-flying bat that roosts deep in rock is rarely photographed, so the thin record reflects how hard the species is to detect, not how scarce it truly is.
Where it roosts, and why the records scatter
Named for the fringe of stiff hairs along the trailing edge of its tail membrane, the fringed myotis is a crevice and cave specialist. It shelters in rock fissures, caves, abandoned mines, and occasionally buildings, and forages over woodland, shrubland, and grassland edges for beetles and other insects it plucks in slow, maneuverable flight. Colorado records lean toward the western canyons and the southwestern corner, with Montezuma County contributing the most, alongside scattered detections in Moffat, Larimer, and the southeastern grasslands. The pattern follows suitable roosting rock more than any single park.
A hibernating bat with a hidden winter
Its NatureServe rank of S3 (vulnerable) reflects both genuine sensitivity and how little is known about it. The near-total absence of cold-season records is the signature of a bat that hibernates or shifts to sheltered roosts once insect prey vanishes; activity concentrates in the warm months, when females gather in maternity colonies to raise a single pup each. Because the species clusters and roosts communally, disturbance at a single site can affect many animals at once.
Status in Colorado
The fringed myotis is native to the state and globally least concern, but ranked vulnerable at the state level. This is a bat known mostly to biologists working with mist nets and acoustic detectors, not to park visitors.
Full species profile
