Fig. 1

Map depicting the routes followed in Darwin’s four trips performed between 1834-1835 to north-central Chile, a hyperendemic area of Chagas disease. Trip to Navidad (1834): 14-27 August, 6-27 September (Valparaíso - Campana mountain - Santiago - Cauquenes Hot Spring - Navidad -Valparaíso). Trip to Luján (1835): 18 March - 10 April (Santiago - Piuquenes Pass - Luján - Mendoza - Uspallata Pass - Santiago). Trip to Caldera (1835): 27 April - 5 July (Valparaíso - Limache - Illapel -Coquimbo - Freirina - Vallenar - Copiapó - Caldera). Trip to Iquique (1835): 13-14 July (Iquique -Huantajaya Mine - Santa Rosa Mine - La Noria Saltpetre - Iquique). Route reconstructions are based on Darwin’s diary (Darwin 1845). Black dots: cities or towns. Pink dots: observed Triatoma infestans, Mepraia spinolai, Mepraia gajardoi and Mepraia parapatrica occurrences in the past century and nowadays. Green area represents the potential species distribution in Chile (all species combined) based on Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) [28, 34]