Authors’ Contributions
GM, VF, NSB designed the study concept. RER, NSB, MTT, FHM, HK, KS, and MN collected tick samples and RER, NSB, MTT, FHM, KS, and HK performedBorrelia isolations. RER and HK were responsible for morphological identification of all tick specimens. HK, SK, GM, and VF provided additional Borrelia isolates and sequence data. RER sequenced all novel Borrelia and assembled all sequence data. RER ran all analysis with the guidance of NSB and RJP. RER wrote the manuscript with NSB, RJP, HK, and GM. The final manuscript was read and approved by all co-authors.