Characterization of 14 polymorphic microsatellite loci for the facultatively eusocial sweat bee Halictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) and their variability in related species

Antonella Soro; Robert J Paxton

doi:10.1111/j.1755-0998.2008.02416.x

Characterization of 14 polymorphic microsatellite loci for the facultatively eusocial sweat bee Halictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera, Halictidae) and their variability in related species

Mol Ecol Resour. 2009 Jan;9(1):150-2. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2008.02416.x. Epub 2008 Oct 10.

Authors

Antonella Soro¹, Robert J Paxton

Affiliation

¹ Animal Physiological Ecology, University of Tübingen, Konrad-Adenauer Strasse 20, D-72072 Tübingen, Germany, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 7BL, UK.

PMID: 21564587
DOI: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2008.02416.x

Abstract

Sweat bees display considerable variation in social organization and a few species, such as Halictus rubicundus, are even facultatively eusocial. Fourteen polymorphic, unlinked microsatellite loci were isolated from H. rubicundus and characterized in 45 females. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to 18 (mean 10.1), observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.24 to 0.98 (mean 0.71) and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.24 to 0.98 (mean 0.70). Six or more loci cross-amplified in four other sweat bees. These loci will be useful for the study of social evolution and population genetic structure in H. rubicundus and many other sweat bees.