Gabriel Soares de Sousa, Portuguese-born Brazilian chronist and sertanist (Lisboa c.1540 – Bahia Province 1592)

Authored Tratado Descriptivo do Brasil or Descriptive Treatise of Brazil (1587) which displays an encyclopedic character. Published only in 1851  

Performed a detailed description of Brazilian flora and fauna

Suggested that flies could transmit certain diseases later confirmed by Castellani (1907)

Described diseases like tungiasis 

Identified yaws or frambesia before Piso

First to describe maculo or epidemic gangrenous proctitis 

Gave the first report about the transmission of a infectious disease (yaws) by an insect  

Established the notion of contagiousness into a disease

First to describe the role that play Tabanid dipterans as bloodsucking agents for man and animals and human myiasis in the dog 

Gave reports about morphological features of birds