Premise of the study: The evolutionarily and ecologically distinct coco de mer palm Lodoicea maldivica (Arecaceae) is endemic to two islands in the Seychelles. Before colonization of the islands by man, the endangered palm formed large monodominant stands, but its natural range is now restricted to four main populations and several patches of isolated individuals. Microsatellite markers were designed to investigate the genetic structure of the remaining natural populations of L. maldivica.
Methods and results: We developed 12 polymorphic and three monomorphic microsatellite markers for this species, with a mean number of alleles per locus of 13.2 (range 5-21) and expected heterozygosity values ranging from 0.31-0.91 for the polymorphic loci.
Conclusions: These markers enable us to study the patterns of genetic diversity, contemporary seed dispersal, and the fine-scale spatial genetic structure of this important conservation flagship species.
Keywords: Arecaceae; Lodoicea maldivica; Praslin; coco de mer; microsatellites; parentage analysis.