Genetic diversity of Trypanosoma cruzi in bats, and multilocus phylogenetic and phylogeographical analyses supporting Tcbat as an independent DTU (discrete typing unit)

•Multilocus phylogenetic analyses of 37 nuclear and 12 mitochondrial genes from Tcbat and strains of all DTUs corroborated Tcbat as an independent DTU.•Multilocus analyses support Tcbat sister to TcI and more related to TcIII than to other DTU.•Phylogeographycal analyses of Tcbat from Brazil, Panama and Colombia suggest some spatial structure.•Bat have been reported infected with diverse DTUs suggesting successive lineage divergence and host switches of trypanosomes of bats and terrestrial mammals.