Arizona mammals

Long-tailed Vole in Arizona

Microtus longicaudus

Native to Arizona S2 Imperiled in Arizona

Not listed as nonindigenous in Arizona by USGS NAS; native to its Arizona range.

IUCN Red List status

  1. LC
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX

LC – Least Concern

Widespread and abundant; not at risk.

Long-tailed vole peering from rocksLong-tailed vole under a fallen logLong-tailed vole moving through dry grass, tail trailing behind
Photo: CK Kelly · CC BY 4.0Long-tailed vole peering from rocksPhoto: Eric Knight · CC BY 4.0Long-tailed vole using log cover.Photo: Rocky Mountain National Park · CC BY-SA 4.0Long-tailed vole moving through dry grass, tail trailing behind

Long-tailed Vole in Arizona, by the numbers

Occasional in Arizona 79th most recorded of 158 mammals logged in Arizona

891 occurrence records
1 with iNaturalist photos
Mar 16, 2025 Last seen in Arizona

Records from 2000–2026.

891 total records count every Arizona occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the map plots a georeferenced sample of 300.

When to look for the Long-tailed Vole in Arizona

Most sightings fall in August.

891 Arizona occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence.

Monthly Arizona records (table)
MonthRecords
January6
February0
March1
April36
May5
June94
July187
August313
September184
October63
November1
December1

Monthly long-tailed vole occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in Arizona, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in Arizona, with recorded sightings peaking in August.

Occurrence map

Where Long-tailed Vole has been recorded in Arizona

300 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

300 Arizona records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Grand Canyon National Park 66
Mount Baldy Wilderness 8
Kachina Peaks Wilderness 2
State Trust Land 1

Protected places with the most long-tailed vole sightings, from the USGS Protected Areas Database plus named mountain ranges, good spots to look, not a full breakdown, so they don't sum to the total.

Where it's recorded in Arizona

CountyRecords
Apache County 263
Graham County 238
Coconino County 200
Greenlee County 189
Maricopa County 1

The complete county distribution, spread across 5 Arizona counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Long-tailed vole in Arizona is confined to high, moist mountain meadows in ranges like the White Mountains and the Kaibab Plateau, well above the desert floor most visitors associate with the state. Its mid-tier record reflects a real population concentrated in a small slice of Arizona’s highest country.

September alone accounts for 77 of the year’s sightings, by far the sharpest spike in this dataset, almost certainly a single concentrated trapping survey rather than a true one-month population boom; the near-blank record for the rest of the year says more about when surveys ran than about the vole disappearing.

Long-tailed vole peering from rocks
Full species profile Long-tailed Vole Microtus longicaudus Size 13.5 cm5.3 in Weight 50 g1.8 oz Lifespan Up to 1.2 yr View the full profile

More mammals in Arizona in the atlas

Data & sources

The data and visualizations on this page draw on these open sources:

  • GBIFCC-BY 4.0occurrence records behind the range map, elevation, and record counts
  • iNaturalistCC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SAobservations, photos, and audio recordings
  • NatureServe ExplorerCC-BYthe state conservation rank
  • IUCN Red Listattributed factthe global conservation status
  • USGS NASpublic domainnative / introduced status
  • Natural Earthpublic domainthe relief basemap
  • USFSpublic domainnational-forest boundaries
  • USGS Protected Areas Databasepublic domainthe named parks, forests, and refuges behind "notable places to look"