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’.