Polymorphic microsatellite loci for the ant-garden ant, Crematogaster levior (Forel)
Conservation Genetics
2009
Journal Article
10
639-641
Los Amigos;invertebrates;ants;genetics;ant-plant interactions
Throughout Amazonia, the ant Crematogaster levior is known for its participation in a complex ant-garden mutualism with the ant Camponotus femoratus and several species of epiphytic plants for which it plays an important role in seed viability. We isolated nine polymorphic microsatellite loci for C. levior from a genomic library enriched for di-, tri-, and tetra-nucleotide repeats. Two to 14 alleles were detected per locus, with levels of observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.103 to 0.785.