Characterization of microsatellite loci in the Jamaican fruit-eating bat Artibeus jamaicensis and cross-species amplification

Artibeus jamaicensis is one of the most common bat species in the neotropics, with a well-defined polygynous social structure in caves. In order to study behaviour and to examine patterns of paternity and relatedness between different harem groups, we developed 14 microsatellite loci from two different enriched genomic libraries. We screened 125 individuals from two different bat colonies and found that polymorphism ranged from five to 13 alleles. Heterozygosity ranged from 63 to 95%. The primers amplified across 14 bat species, indicating their potential utility for population-level studies in several closely related bat species.