Isolation and characterization of ten microsatellite loci for the wood-living and threatened beetle Cucujus cinnaberinus (Coleoptera: Cucujidae)

Cucujus cinnaberinus is an obligate saproxylic beetle distributed in Europe and considered as near threatened in its entire range (IUCN red list). Ten polymorphic microsatellites were characterized among 26 and 45 individual samples obtained from dead trees in the Czech Republic and Norway respectively. All loci were polymorphic in both samples with number of alleles per locus ranged from two to eleven in the Norwegian sample and from two to six in the Czech sample. The genetic difference between the Czech and the Norwegian material were highly significant (P < 0.0001). For several trees the sampled genotypes gave evidence that more than two parents were responsible for the breeding. These microsatellite loci should prove useful in the study of population structure including mate and dispersal patterns for this species.