Rhinonycteridae (trident bats) are a small Palaeotropical family of insectivorous bats allied to Hipposideridae. Their taxonomy has been in a state of flux. Here, we use mitochondrial and nuclear sequences to evaluate species relationships, confirming the monophyly of both Triaenops and Paratriaenops. Although most Triaenops afer specimens are recovered as a group, mitochondrial analyses strongly support some Kenyan individuals as members of Triaenops persicus. Analyses of four nuclear introns (ACOX2, COPS7A, RODGI and STAT5A) strongly support the mitochondrial topology. Morphometric analysis of the skull, external morphology and echolocation calls confirm that the Triaenops from the Rift Valley in Kenya (Nakuru, Baringo and Pokot counties) are distinct from typical T. afer in coastal (Kilifi and Kwale counties) or interior (Laikipia and Makueni counties) colonies. We interpret these analyses to indicate that two species of Triaenops occur in East Africa: T. afer in coastal regions along the Indian Ocean and in the highlands of central Kenya and Ethiopia, and T. persicus in the Rift Valley of Kenya. Although they appear widely disjunct from Middle Eastern populations, Kenyan T. persicus might be more widely distributed in the Rift Valley; they are somewhat differentiated from Middle Eastern populations in terms of both cranial morphology and vocalizations.

中文翻译：

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非洲三叉戟蝙蝠的遗传，形态和声学分化（Rhinonycteridae：Triaenops）

犀牛科（三叉戟蝙蝠）是与沙棘科同盟的食虫蝙蝠的一个小型古家族。他们的分类法一直处于变化中。在这里，我们使用线粒体和核序列来评估物种之间的关系，从而确认了Triaenops和Paratriaenops的单性。尽管大多数Triaenops的标本都作为一个整体回收，但线粒体分析强烈支持某些肯尼亚个体作为Triaenops persicus的成员。四个核内含子（ACOX2，COPS7A，RODGI和STAT5A）的分析强烈支持线粒体拓扑。颅骨的形态测量分析，外部形态和回声定位确认了Triaenops从裂谷在肯尼亚（纳库鲁，巴拉戈和Pokot县）是从典型不同T. AFER在沿海（基利菲和夸莱县）或内部（莱基皮亚和马瓜尼县）菌落。我们解释这些分析以表明在东非出现了两种Triaenops物种：印度洋沿岸地区以及肯尼亚中部和埃塞俄比亚的高地上的T. afer，以及肯尼亚裂谷的T. persicus。尽管它们看上去与中东人群大相径庭，但肯尼亚的波斯菊可能在裂谷地区分布更为广泛。在颅骨形态和发声方面，它们与中东人群有所不同。