Thirteen polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci from whiptails of the genus Aspidoscelis (Teiidae: Squamata) and related cnemidophorine lizards

Nicholas G. Crawford^1,3, Jaime Zaldívar-Rae², Cris Hagen³, Amanda Schable³,
Erica Bree Rosenblum^4,5, Jeff A. Graves⁶, Tod W. Reeder¹, Michael G. Ritchie⁶, and
Travis C. Glenn³

¹Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182–4614, USA
²Laboratorio de Conducta Animal, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México,
A.P. 70–275, C.P. 04510, México, D.F. Mexico
³Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802, USA
⁴Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
⁵Department of Genome Sciences, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, One Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
⁶Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of St. Andrews, KY16 9TS, UK

Abstract: We describe polymerase chain reaction primers and amplification conditions for 13 microsatellite DNA loci isolated from two bisexual species of whiptail lizards Aspidoscelis costata huico and Aspidoscelis inornata. Primers were tested on either 16 or 48 individuals of A. c. huico and/or 26 individuals of A. inornata. Ten of the 13 primers were also tested against a panel of 31 additional whiptail taxa. We detected three to nine alleles per locus in A. c. huico and four to 19 alleles per locus in A. inornata, with observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.60 to 0.87 and from 0.15 to 1.00, respectively. These primers will be an important resource for surveys of genetic variation in these lizards.