California mammals

Mexican Long-tongued Bat in California

Choeronycteris mexicana

Native to California S1 Critically Imperiled in California

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

IUCN Red List status

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

NT – Near Threatened

Close to qualifying as threatened in the near future.

Mexican Long-tongued Bat in California, by the numbers

Rare in California 231st most recorded of 241 mammals logged in California

59 occurrence records
3 with iNaturalist photos

Records from 2000–2026.

When to look for the Mexican Long-tongued Bat in California

Most sightings fall in October.

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

Monthly California records (table)
MonthRecords
January1
February1
March0
April0
May0
June0
July2
August0
September11
October40
November3
December1

Monthly mexican long-tongued bat occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in California, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in California, with recorded sightings peaking in October.

Occurrence map

Where Mexican Long-tongued Bat has been recorded in California

59 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

59 California records mapped

Where it's recorded in California

CountyRecords
San Diego County 55
Orange County 2
Ventura County 1
Los Angeles County 1

The complete county distribution, spread across 4 California counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Mexican Long-tongued Bat records connect California’s feeding grounds with places suitable for daytime shelter. The Sierra Nevada, Coast Ranges, desert oases, and developed valleys create sharply different combinations of insects, flowers, caves, trees, and buildings.

Reports tend to gather near roads, towns, parks, and monitored roosts, while high ridges and open desert receive less nighttime coverage. California’s dry summers make water especially important, but records near ponds don’t establish how many bats use the surrounding landscape.

The California record set combines 3 research-grade community observations with 56 museum and survey records. Monthly patterns can also reflect weather and observer activity, so they shouldn’t be treated as a direct count of animals.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

More mammals in California 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