Development of microsatellite markers using 454 sequencing for the rare socially parasitic hoverfly, Microdon mutabilis

To date there have been only limited fine-scale investigations into the molecular ecology of the European hoverfly, Microdon mutabilis, due to the paucity of available polymorphic markers. We describe the development of primers amplifying five novel microsatellite loci using next-generation sequencing (454) and three previously undescribed M. mutabilis microsatellite loci using enrichments. In hoverflies from a population in Ireland, the number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 16, and the observed heterozygosity ranged between 0.26 and 0.97.