[1] Rüppell's horseshoe bat is a small microbat, although fairly large for an African species.

The upper parts have grey to greyish brown fur, each individual hair having a pale greyish-brown or greyish-fawn shaft with a blackish tip.

The ears are small and the noseleaf has a sub-triangular lancet with slightly concave sides and a rounded tip.

[2] Rüppell's horseshoe bat is endemic to Africa, south of the Sahara.

It occupies a large swathe of western and central Africa, ranging from Senegal and the Gambia eastwards to Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.