Abstract
Microsatellite markers together with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) represent a golden standard in most of population-genetic and behavioural studies. Due to their high polymorphism they were successfully used for estimation of population differentiation and gene flow, the rate of hybridization and introgression, and for inferring mating systems and extra-pair paternities.
To amplify microsatellite loci by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), primers must be developed from the DNA that flanks the specific microsatellite repeats. These regions of DNA are highly variable, thus primer-binding sites are not well conserved among distantly related taxa and must be designed de novo for each species or a group of closely related species (Primer et al. 1996, Barbará et al. 2007).
In this paper we describe a new set of microsatellites for two genera of legless lizards (Squamata: Anguidae), Anguis Linnaeus, 1758 and Pseudopus Merrem, 1820.