Mexican long-tongued bat

The species roosts in caves or abandoned buildings during the day. Individuals do not cluster together, hanging 2–5 cm apart suspended by a single foot, which allows them to rotate on their perch. If alarmed, they fly towards the opening and light rather than deeper into the roosting site. Females will carry young but only from one shelter to another. Migrations follow regional nectar availability. A key factor for migration in glossophagines over larger distances seems to be a large body size that permits storing energy for traveling over areas without available food. Following this idea, C. mexicana might be the larger, migrating version of the small, resident sister taxon Musonycteris harrisoni. Resident species (compared to a migrating species) may know their relatively small home ranges on a fine-grained level, including also locations of less-profitable food plant species. Migrating species, on the other hand, tend to focus on predictably flowering, high-quality resources (von Helversen and Winter 2003).

In the United States, this species is found in the southern parts of California, New Mexico and Arizona. It has also been reported from Texas. Further south, its range extends from Mexico (including Baja California and the Tres Marias Islands) through El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. It occurs at altitudes of 300-2,400 meters in deciduous, semi-arid thorn scrub and mixed oak-conifer forests. Northern populations migrate south for the winter.

The species has been classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN due to ongoing habitat loss, which includes loss of roosting sites in caves to mining and tourism. It is regarded as a species of Special Concern on California and Arizona.