Data on fleas, hosts and their interactions

Data on fleas, hosts and their interactions were taken from regional surveys of the fleas (Siphonaptera) recorded on small mammals (Macroscelidea, Eulipotyphla, Rodentia and the ochotonid Lagomorpha) used in our earlier study (Krasnov and Shenbrot 2022). Here, we did not consider data from the Australasian and Indomalayan regions because the data on flea functional traits from these realms are largely unavailable. We also did not include in the analyses the ubiquitous fleas (Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild, 1903), Xenopsylla brasiliensis (Baker, 1904), Nosopsyllus fasciatus (Bosc, 1800) and Nosopsyllus londiniensis (Rothschild, 1903)) associated with synanthropic ubiquitous hosts (Rattus norvegicus (Berkenhout, 1769), Rattus rattus (L., 1758) and Mus musculus L., 1758). We included in the analyses each host species for which at least one flea species was recorded. In total, we used data from 91 regions (see Supplementary Table S1), including 15 Afrotropical regions, 23 Nearctic regions, 17 Neotropical regions and 36 Palearctic regions (see maps and sources of information, Krasnov and Shenbrot 2022).