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
Wilhelm Karl Hartwich (or Hartwig) Peters (22 April 1815 in Koldenbüttel – 20 April 1883) was a German natural history, naturalist and explorer.
He was assistant to the anatomist Johannes Peter Müller and later became curator of the Natural ...
.
It was considered a subspecies of the
rufous trident bat
The rufous trident bat, Persian trident bat, or triple nose-leaf bat (''Triaenops persicus'') is a species of bat in the genus '' Triaenops''. It occurs in southwestern Pakistan, southern Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. In the la ...
from approximately 1963–2009, when
morphological and
genetic analyses showed that it was a distinct species.
Its
species name
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
"''afer''" is
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "African."
Biology and ecology
It is
nocturnal
Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...
, roosting in sheltered places during the day such as caves or abandoned mines.
Roosts can consist of up to half a million individuals, as this is a
colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
species.
Range and habitat
''Triaenops afer'' has been documented in
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
,
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
, southwest
Congo
Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa:
* Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...
, and northwest
Angola
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, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
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, coordina ...
.
Previously believed to be the only member of its genus found in continental Africa, recent research incorporating morphological data and
echolocation calls has shown that only the populations in coastal regions along the Indian Ocean and in the highlands of central Kenya and Ethiopia are ''T. afer'', with the populations in the
Rift Valley
A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges created by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear dep ...
of Kenya actually being ''
Triaenops persicus
The rufous trident bat, Persian trident bat, or triple nose-leaf bat (''Triaenops persicus'') is a species of bat in the genus ''Triaenops''. It occurs in southwestern Pakistan, southern Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. In the las ...
''.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10384544
Bats of Africa
Triaenops
Mammals described in 1877
Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters