By Shelly Charron
Geographic Range
Choeronycteris mexicana is common throughout Mexico with its range extending through Central America and into northern South America. It is also found in some areas of the southwestern United States. The Mexican Long-tongued bat has been found in southern Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The bat enters these states from Mexico at their very southern border. The Mexican long-tongued bat is rare in the United States. The scarcity of Choeronycteris mexicana in the United States is influenced by temperature and seasonal food availabitity. Some members of the species that inhabit the United States migrate to the southern parts of its range for the winter season.
Biogeographic Regions:
nearctic 
(native ); neotropical (native ).
Habitat
(3280 ft)
Choeronycteris mexicana lives in a variety of habitats ranging from desert, montane, riparian, to pinyon-juniper habitats. The bats are most frequently found roosting in desert canyons, deep caves, mines, or rock crevices. In urban enviroments the bats use abandoned buildings for day roosts. Choeronycteris mexicana inhabits altitudes up to 6,200 feet.
These animals are found in the following types of habitat:
temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial .
Terrestrial Biomes:
desert or dune ; forest ; scrub forest .
Physical Description
(0.88 oz)
(3.35 in)
The Mexican Long-tongued bat is a medium sized bat with a long rostrum and a nose leaf. It has a long tongue that extends to 1/3 of its body length. It' pelage is gray to brown above and lighter below. Other characteristics include big eyes and a minute tail that extends less than halfway to the edge of the interfemoral membrane.
Average external measurements:
total length-85mm, tail-10mm, foot-14mm, ear-16mm,
forearm-44mm, weight-25g
dental formula
2/0 1/1 2/3 3/3 (X2)=30
Some key physical features:
endothermic ; bilateral symmetry .
Reproduction
June-July
Breeding occurs during the summer months in the northernmost part of the range of Choeronycteris mexicana. Each female bears a single furred young between late June and early July. In southern Mexico young have been seen as early as mid-april. Caves, mines, rock crevices, and abandoned buildings are used as nursery sites. The young remain with their mother until they can fly, 2-3 weeks after birth. Females are known to carry their young in flight. Once young can fly, Choeronycteris mexicana may move their roosts to areas of greater food availability. Young born in the southern United States leave their maternity roosts in October and November for Mexico, Central America, or the northern parts of South America.
Key reproductive features:
seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (internal ).
Behavior
Peak activity occurs 1 1/2 hours after sunset and then at low levels until about 3 hours after sunset. Bats hang by one foot while roosting and can rotate 360 degrees. The bats may be found singly or in groups of several dozen. At temperatures below 70 degrees F, they hang in a cluster and above 70 degrees F they hang one to two inches apart. Choeronycteris mexicana migrates south in the winter to follow flowering food plants such as agave and yucca.
Food Habits
Choeronycteris mexicana feeds on fruit, pollen, nectar, and possibly insects on rare occasions. They have a long tongue that aids in removing nectar from flowers. Pollen and nectar is acquired mainly from night blooming flowers such as cactus and agave. Nectar and pollen is typically collected while the bat hovers over the flower. Hummingbird feeders provide food for those bats arriving to northern destinations when food sources are not yet available.
Primary Diet:
herbivore (frugivore , nectarivore ).
Animal Foods:
insects.
Plant Foods:
fruit; nectar; pollen.
Ecosystem Roles
Pollinates agave and columnar cacti.
May share roosts with Plecotus townsendii and Macrotus californicus.
Key ways these animals impact their ecosystem:
pollinates.
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Choeronycteris mexicana pollinates Agave plants.
Conservation Status
IUCN Red List: [link]:
Lower Risk - Near Threatened.
US Federal List: [link]:
No special status.
CITES: [link]:
No special status.
The Mexican Long-tongued bat is the only nectar feeding bat that is not endangered. It is listed by the United States Fish and Wildlife service as a species of concern. Fewer than 400 bats have been seen in the United States since 1906. A long term sustainable food source is important for the survival of the species. Development, prescribed fires, and grazing threaten loss of food plants. Other threats to Choeronycteris mexicana are caving, natural or intentional mine closures, and mine reclamation.
Contributors
Shelly Charron (author), University of Michigan.
Bret Weinstein (editor), University of Michigan.
