New Mexico mammals

Western Little Brown Myotis in New Mexico

Myotis lucifugus

Native to New Mexico

Not listed as nonindigenous in New Mexico by USGS NAS; treated as native to its mapped New Mexico range.

IUCN Red List status

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

EN – Endangered

Very high risk of extinction in the wild.

Little brown myotis roosting alertly on a wooden beamLittle brown myotis roosting in the corner of an attic beamLittle brown myotis roosting on painted wood sidingLittle brown myotis resting among blue spruce branches
Photo: Steph Brulot-Sawchyn · CC0Little brown myotis roosting alertly on a wooden beamPhoto: LeeAnn Latremouille · CC BY 4.0Little brown myotis roosting in the corner of an attic beamPhoto: Tom Romeo · CC BY 4.0Little brown myotis roosting on painted wood sidingPhoto: Patrick Jackson · CC BY 4.0Little brown myotis resting among blue spruce branches

Western Little Brown Myotis in New Mexico, by the numbers

Rare in New Mexico 155th most recorded of 176 mammals logged in New Mexico

100 occurrence records
3 with iNaturalist photos
May 23, 2026 Last seen in New Mexico

Records from 2000–2026.

100 total records count every New Mexico occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the monthly chart covers the 99 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Western Little Brown Myotis in New Mexico

Most sightings fall in June.

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

Monthly New Mexico records (table)
MonthRecords
January5
February0
March7
April5
May12
June46
July15
August4
September4
October0
November1
December0

Monthly western little brown myotis occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) in New Mexico, 2000–2026.

Seasonality

Year-round in New Mexico, with recorded sightings peaking in June.

Occurrence map

Where Western Little Brown Myotis has been recorded in New Mexico

100 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

100 New Mexico records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Navajo Lake State Park 2
Rio Grande corridor 1
Colin Neblett Wildlife Management Area 1
Rio Grande Valley State Park 1

Protected places with the most western little brown myotis 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 New Mexico

CountyRecords
San Miguel County 31
Eddy County 21
Catron County 17
Hidalgo County 9
Taos County 4
Socorro County 4
Colfax County 3
Sierra County 2
Santa Fe County 2
San Juan County 2
Sandoval County 1
Cibola County 1
3 other counties 3

The complete county distribution, spread across 15 New Mexico counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Western little brown myotis records in New Mexico trace the Rio Grande north from where it enters the state, through Rio Grande del Norte National Monument’s basalt canyons and into Carson National Forest, a mix of river corridor, cliff, and cave habitat that matches how this bat roosts and forages.

The state has 100 combined records, with 99 represented in GBIF and only 3 in iNaturalist; overlap between sources means those figures should not be added together. June accounts for 46 records, far more than any other month, which may point to focused summer roost or acoustic surveys rather than a statewide surge in bats.

No NatureServe state rank is shown for this bat in New Mexico. Its rare widget label therefore describes its position in this occurrence dataset, not its conservation rank or abundance on the landscape.

Occurrence data from iNaturalist and GBIF.

Little brown myotis roosting alertly on a wooden beam
Full species profile Western Little Brown Myotis Myotis lucifugus Size 8–9.5 cm3.1–3.7 in Weight 6–13 g0.2–0.5 oz Lifespan 35 yr View the full profile

More mammals in New Mexico 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
  • 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"