Premise: Microsatellite markers were developed for Xerophyta dasylirioides (Velloziaceae), a species endemic to the Malagasy inselbergs, to explore the impact of its island-like distribution on genetic diversity and gene flow.
Methods and results: A total of 7110 perfect microsatellite loci were recovered by shotgun sequencing on an Illumina MiSeq platform. Primer pairs were designed for 40 arbitrarily selected loci. Fifteen primer pairs that generated distinct PCR products were used to genotype 80 individuals of X. dasylirioides from three inselberg populations. All markers were polymorphic, revealing two to 17 alleles in the overall sampling. Levels of observed and expected heterozygosity per locus ranged from zero to 1.000 and from zero to 0.850, respectively. Success rates of cross-amplification in 10 additional species of Xerophyta (X. croatii, X. decaryi, X. isaloensis, X. labatii, X. lewisiae, X. pinifolia, X. retinervis, X. setosa, X. spekei, X. tulearensis) ranged from zero to 70%.
Conclusions: Fifteen newly developed microsatellite markers provide a toolkit for assessing population genetic parameters of X. dasylirioides in its unique island-like habitats.
Keywords: Illumina sequencing, Madagascar; Velloziaceae; Xerophyta dasylirioides; desiccation‐tolerance; genetic diversity; rock outcrops.