Characterization of microsatellite loci in Leucorrhinia caudalis, a rare dragonfly endangered throughout Europe

Abstract

Leucorrhinia caudalis is a rare dragonfly, threatened throughout Europe. It only survived in a single population in Switzerland in the 1980s. However, it recently spread and colonized new ponds. In order to be able to study contemporary migration in this species, eight new microsatellite markers were developed and tested on 24 individuals from six Swiss ponds. We detected three to eleven alleles per polymorphic locus and found observed and expected heterozygosities of 0.250 to 0.875 and 0.215 to 0.840, respectively.