Gregor W. Schuurman
Rori A. Paloski
Owen D. Boyle
Joshua M. Kapfer
Brian L. Sloss
2012
<p><span>Butler’s Gartersnakes (BGS; </span><i class="EmphasisTypeItalic ">Thamnophis butleri</i><span>) are confined to open and semi-open canopy wetlands and adjacent uplands, habitats under threat of development in Wisconsin. To address issues of species identity and putative hybridization with congeneric snakes, a suite of 18 microsatellite loci capable of cross-species amplification of Plains Gartersnakes (</span><i class="EmphasisTypeItalic ">T. radix</i><span>) and Common Gartersnakes (</span><i class="EmphasisTypeItalic ">T. sirtalis</i><span>) was developed. All loci were polymorphic in BGS with mean number of alleles per locus of 16.11 (range = 3–41) and mean observed heterozygosity of 0.659 (range = 0.311–0.978). Loci amplified efficiently in the congeneric species with high levels of intra- and inter-specific variation. These loci will aid ongoing efforts to effectively identify and manage BGS in Wisconsin.</span></p>
application/pdf
10.1007/s12686-011-9555-8
en
Springer
Novel microsatellite loci for studies of Thamnophis Gartersnake genetic identity and hybridization
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