Virginia mammals

Western Little Brown Myotis in Virginia

Myotis lucifugus

Native to Virginia S2 Imperiled in Virginia

Not listed as nonindigenous in Virginia by USGS NAS; native to its Virginia 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 Virginia, by the numbers

Rare in Virginia 71st most recorded of 105 mammals logged in Virginia

31 occurrence records
10 with iNaturalist photos
Jun 30, 2026 Last seen in Virginia

Records from 2000–2026.

31 total records count every Virginia occurrence from GBIF and iNaturalist; the monthly chart covers the 27 records with a full observation date.

When to look for the Western Little Brown Myotis in Virginia

Most sightings fall in February.

27 Virginia occurrence records (iNaturalist and GBIF) by month of year, 2000–2026. Shows when the species is recorded, not a guarantee of presence. Based on a small number of dated records; the seasonal pattern may not be representative.

Monthly Virginia records (table)
MonthRecords
January0
February6
March1
April3
May4
June3
July6
August1
September2
October0
November0
December1

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

Seasonality

Year-round in Virginia, with recorded sightings peaking in February, with a smaller rise in May and July.

Occurrence map

Where Western Little Brown Myotis has been recorded in Virginia

31 records mapped · zoom and drag to explore

31 Virginia records mapped

Notable places to look

Park, forest, or monumentiNaturalist records
Jefferson National Forest 5

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 Virginia

CountyRecords
Giles County 8
Bath County 6
Tazewell County 3
Wythe County 2
Rockingham County 2
Falls Church County 2
Rockbridge County 2
Charles City County 1
Roanoke County 1
Russell County 1
Washington County 1
Augusta County 1
Amherst County 1

The complete county distribution, spread across 13 Virginia counties. Every occurrence record falls in one county, so these sum to the total. Counties from GBIF and US Census boundaries.

Virginia’s little brown myotis carries a NatureServe rank of S2, Imperiled, a state-level signal distinct from the species’ global IUCN Endangered listing, and it reflects how hard white-nose syndrome has hit eastern hibernating colonies since the fungus first appeared in a New York cave in 2006. Virginia sits well within the disease’s spread zone, unlike the still largely unaffected colonies in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.

Records here are sparse, just 10 from iNaturalist against 28 from GBIF, a GBIF-heavy split typical of a species tracked mostly through hibernation-site surveys rather than casual photographs. The refuges attached to this record, Great Dismal Swamp, Back Bay, and Mason Neck, are wetland and river systems, exactly the kind of insect-rich open water this bat hunts low over at night.

Sightings peak in May, which lines up with the spring nursery-roost season, though with so few total records that’s a soft signal rather than a firm pattern.

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 Virginia 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"