Missouri’s northern myotis record reads like a warning. Twenty-six mapped reports scatter across a dozen counties, led by Pulaski and Stone in the Ozarks, with Mark Twain National Forest the busiest named site. And then the record stops: the most recent mapped report dates to August 2009.
That timing lines up with the arrival of white-nose syndrome, the fungal disease that has collapsed northern myotis populations across the East since the late 2000s. The IUCN lists the bat as Near Threatened, NatureServe ranks it imperiled worldwide, and Missouri’s own rank is S1, critically imperiled. A quiet recent record can’t prove the bat is gone, but it’s consistent with a species in real trouble.
Reports peak in August and September, when bats swarm at cave and mine entrances before hibernation. In a state riddled with caves, those entrances are where the bat’s Missouri future will be decided, and the thin recent file makes every confirmed report matter.
Full species profile
