The rufous trident bat, Persian trident bat, or triple nose-leaf bat (''Triaenops persicus'') is a species of bat in the genus ''

Triaenops ''Triaenops'' is a genus of bat in the family Hipposideridae. It is classified in the tribe Triaenopini, along with the closely related genus '' Paratriaenops'' and perhaps the poorly known '' Cloeotis''. The species of ''Paratriaenops'', which ...

''. It occurs in southwestern Pakistan, southern Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. In the last country, it occurs together with the much smaller ''

Triaenops parvus The Yemeni trident leaf-nosed bat (''Triaenops parvus'') is a species of bat found in the Middle East. Taxonomy and etymology It was described as a new species in 2009 by Benda and Vallo. Before this, it had been considered synonymous with the ...

''. Populations from Madagascar and mainland Africa have also been assigned to ''T. persicus'', but are referable to the species ''

Triaenops menamena ''Triaenops menamena'' is a bat in the genus ''Triaenops'' found on Madagascar, mainly in the drier regions. It was known as ''Triaenops rufus'' until 2009, when it was discovered that that name had been incorrectly applied to the species. ''Triae ...

'' and ''

Triaenops afer The African trident bat (''Triaenops afer'') is a species of bat found in Africa. Taxonomy and etymology It was described as a new species in 1877 by German zoologist Wilhelm Peters. It was considered a subspecies of the rufous trident bat from ...

'', respectively. Madagascar populations have also been referred to as ''Triaenops rufus'', but this name is a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''T. persicus''. Findings from a study incorporating morphological data and echolocation calls have suggested that populations in the Rift Valley in Kenya (

Nakuru Nakuru is a city in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and was formerly the capital of Rift Valley Province. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban and rural population of 570,674 inhabitant ...

, Baringo, and Pokot counties), previously believed to be ''

'', are actually populations of ''T. persicus'', although with some differentiation from the Middle Eastern populations in terms of both cranial morphology and vocalisations.

References

Triaenops Bats of Africa Bats of Asia Mammals of the Middle East Fauna of East Africa Fauna of Iran Taxa named by George Edward Dobson Mammals described in 1871 {{Hipposideridae-stub