Vertebrate diversity and identified host species
The sandfly metabarcoding data revealed 50 vertebrate taxa of which 48
were identified to the genus or species level (Table 2; Fig. 3). Of the
50 identified vertebrate taxa, 43 were considered sylvatic species
(results for taxa considered to be domesticated species are shown in
Table 2 and Appendix S1: Fig S1). We categorized the vertebrate taxa
based on their known host and/or reservoir status for Leishmaniaparasites after an extensive review of the literature (Table 2). The
most abundant sylvatic vertebrate species in sandfly pools were
armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus (RAI = 0.18), Dasypus
kappleri (RAI = 0.04)), tapir (Tapirus terrestris (RAI = 0.04)),
and lesser anteater (Tamandua tetradactyla (RAI = 0.02)). Host
and/or reservoir species dominated the sylvatic species diversity with
27 species categorized as host or probable host and only three species
categorized as non-host or unlikely host (Table 2). Too little is
currently known about the host status of the remaining 13 vertebrate
taxa, most of which were birds (n=10); tapir, giant otter, and red
brocket deer are the only non-bird species designated as ‘unknown’.