[2] The alliance resurrects John Edward Gray's 1866 arrangement of known microbat taxa, first published as subtribe Rhinonycterina, and elevating this to the rank of family.

[2][3] The affinities within the families Hipposideridae and Rhinolophidae are sometimes found to be contrary in morphological and molecular analyses, yet resolving the phylogeny of these speciose and poorly defined groups has implication in several areas of research.

Aside from anticipating and detecting the sources of zoonotic disease, as carriers of the potentially lethal coronavirus species (especially those of human-lethal Betacoronavirus-b group), the treatment allows the identification of Evolutionary Significant Units within the hipposiderid, rhinolophid and the rhinonycterid lineages.

[5] The genus Rhinonicteris is unusual in becoming endemic to Australia, whereas the other genera are found in Africa and Madagascar, and the fossil record supports the terrestrial radiation of the family.

The Australian Faunal Directory recognised extant taxa occurring in Australia; The 2014 revision presents a separation as three families, equivalent to other mammalian taxonomic arrangements, and incorporates a clade identifying the type Rhinonicteris aurantia with genera Paratriaenops, Triaenops and Cloeotis.