Estimates of alpha diversity for flea-associated bacterial communities.

<p>Alpha diversity was measured as the total number of observed OTUs detected in a subset of 1000 randomly chosen sequences from a sample (A) and as phylodiversity of bacteria within a sample (B). Diversity did not significantly differ between males and females of <i>C</i>. <i>c</i>. <i>cabirus</i> and sex was not determined for <i>X</i>. <i>nubica</i>. The number of observed species did not significantly differ in <i>X</i>. <i>brasiliensis</i>. In all other comparisons, male fleas harbored significantly more diversity based on student’s t-tests. Ccc: <i>Ctenophthalmus calceatus cabirus</i>, Dl: <i>Dinopsyllus lypusus</i>, St: <i>Stivalius torvus</i>, Xb: <i>Xenopsylla brasiliensis</i>, Xc: <i>Xenopsylla cheopis</i>, Xn: <i>Xenopsylla nubica</i>.