Long-eared bats of the genus Plecotus are widespread over most of temperate Eurasia, marginally reaching the African continent and Macaronesia. Previously, all African populations were assigned to one species, P. auritus, and later to P. austriacus. We analysed museum specimens of African long-eared bat populations using both morphologic and genetic techniques. Based on morphological evidence we recognise four well-defined allopatric populations in northern Africa. They differ in fur coloration, skull morphology and bacular traits. The molecular data support a division of the African populations into at least three well-separated evolutionary lineages. With a combination of these data we define three species of Plecotus occurring in Africa (incl. the Canary Islands) and describe a new subspecies. Small, very pale greyish-brown Egyptian long-eared bats (P. christii Gray, 1838) inhabit desert and semi-deserts habitats of eastern Sahara (Libyan Desert, Nile Valley of Egypt and northern Sudan). Smaller to medium-sized, dark brown Ethiopian long-eared bats (P. balensis Kruskop et Lavrenchenko, 2000) inhabit the Ethiopian Highlands above 2000 metres a. s. l. This form represents the only Afro-tropical species of Plecotus. Large, dark greyish Canarian long-eared bats (P. teneriffae teneriffae Barret-Hamilton, 1907) occur on the three western islands of the Canarian Archipelago. A medium-sized greyish-brown Gaisler’s long-eared bat, P. teneriffae gaisleri subsp. n., is described from the Mediterranean region of Cyrenaica, north-eastern Libya. Due to the lack of substantial morphological differences we preliminarily consider the Maghrebian population of long-eared bats to be consubspecific with P. teneriffae gaisleri subsp. n. The systematic position of the population of Cape Verde Islands remains uncertain.
The genus Triaenops has been considered monospecific in its a frican and Middle Eastern range (T. persicus), while three other species have been recognised as endemic to Madagascar (T. menamena, T. furculus, and T. auritus), and another to the western Seychelles (T. pauliani). We analysed representative samples of T. persicus from East Africa and the Middle East using both morphological and molecular genetics approaches and compared them with most of the available type material of species of this genus. Morphological comparisons revealed four distinct morphotypes in the set of examined specimens; one in Africa, the others in the Middle East. The Middle Eastern morphotypes differed mainly in size, while the allopatric African form showed differences in skull shape. Two of three Arabian morphotypes occur in sympatry. Cytochrome b gene-based molecular analysis revealed significant divergences (K2P distance 6.4–8.1% in complete cyt b sequence) among most of the morphotypes. Therefore, we propose a split of the current T. persicus rank into three species: T. afer in Africa, and T. persicus and T. parvus sp. nov. in the Middle east. The results of the molecular analysis also indicated relatively close proximity of the Malagasy T. menamena to Arabian T. persicus, suggesting a northern route of colonisation of Madagascar from populations from the Middle east or north-eastern Africa as a plausible alternative to presumed colonisation from east Africa. Due to a considerable genetic distance (21.6–26.2% in 731 bp sequence of cyt b) and substantial morphological differences from the continental forms of Triaenops as well as from Malagasy T. menamena, we propose generic status (Paratriaenops gen. nov.) for the group of Malagasy species, T. furculus, T. auritus, and T. pauliani. We separated the genera Triaenops and Paratriaenops gen. nov. from other hipposiderid bats into Triaenopini trib. nov. recognising their isolated position within the family Hipposideridae Lydekker, 1891.