PERMANENT GENETIC RESOURCES ARTICLE Novel microsatellite DNA loci for Bombus terrestris (Linnaeus, 1758) ECKART STOLLE,* MANDY ROHDE,* DOMINIQUE VAUTRIN,† MICHEL SOLIGNAC,† PAUL SCHMID-HEMPEL,‡ REGULA SCHMID-HEMPEL‡ and ROBIN F. A. MORITZ* *Institut fu ¨ r Biologie, Martin-Luther-Universita ¨t Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher Weg 4, D-06099 Halle (Saale), Germany, †Laboratoire Evolution, Ge ´nomes et Spe ´ciation, CNRS, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette cedex, France, ‡ETH Zu ¨ rich, Intitute for Integrative Biology (IBZ), Experimental Ecology Group, ETH-Zentrum CHN, CH-8092 Zu ¨ rich, Switzerland Abstract We present details and characteristics of 123 novel polymorphic microsatellite DNA loci for Bombus terrestris. Thirty-four of these loci have been tested in nine other Bombus species and 25 of them showed polymorphisms in at least one species. These microsatellite DNA loci together with the already established 60 loci will be useful for characterizing wild and managed populations of B. terrestris and other Bombus species as well as for detailed genetic studies in including mapping studies and genome annotations. Keywords: Bombus terrestris, bumblebee, microsatellites, molecular markers Received 29 October 2008; accepted 27 January 2009 Bumble bees (Bombus Latreille) comprise almost 250 species (Williams 1998) which occur in a wide diversity of terrestrial habitats ranging from sea level to very high altitudes in the holarctic, oriental and neotropic regions (Sakagami 1976; Williams 1985). All non-parasitic bumble bees are primitively social, and colonies typically are headed by a singly mated queen (monogyny and monandry). Colonies are usually founded by the overwintering mated queens and there are only occasional reports on polygynous (Cameron & Jost 1998), facultatively perennial (Sakagami et al . 1967; Plowright & Laverty 1984) or polyandrous species (Schmid-Hempel & Schmid-Hempel 2000). Various species are social parasites (‘cuckoo bumblebees’ — subgenus Psithyrus , B. inexpectatus, B. hyperboreus ) (Pape 1983; Plowright & Laverty 1984; Mu ¨ ller 2006) where the females enter host nests, kill the resident queen, and let the host colonies workers rear the parasite’s brood. Two species, B. terrestris and B. impatiens also became economically important for pollination of many crops, especially in greenhouse cultures (Morandin et al. 2001; Willmer et al . 1994; Velthuis & van Doorn 2006). Colonies are commercially produced at large scale in indoor breeding facilities throughout the season for pollination services. These standard breeding procedures and the easy observa- tion of colonies and individuals in both the field and in the laboratory (Velthuis & van Doorn 2006) made bumblebees a valuable model for a wide range of studies dealing with population genetics (Estoup et al . 1996), host–parasite interactions (Baer & Schmid-Hempel 2001; Wilfert et al . 2007), conservation genetics (Darvill et al . 2006; Ellis et al . 2006), mating biology (Estoup et al . 1995; Schmid-Hempel & Schmid-Hempel 2000) and social behaviour (van Doorn & Heringa 1986; Pereboom et al . 2005). Since the publication of the genome sequence of the closely related honeybee Apis mellifera (Weinstock et al. 2006), genetic and genomic studies of Bombus terrestris gain in importance for comparative studies on caste differentiation, social behaviour and colony organization in insects. Based on a suite of AFLP markers as well as the 60 currently available microsatellite markers (Estoup et al . 1993; Estoup et al . 1995; Reber-Funk et al . 2006), a basic linkage map with an aver- age genetic length of 2760 centimorgans (cM) of the B. ter- restris genome has recently been established (Wilfert et al. 2006). However, for mapping studies, it would be desirable to have a more dense coverage of reproducible markers in the genome. We here present 123 novel microsatellite markers which will further facilitate both a better quality mapping of quantitative trait loci and higher resolution population genetic studies in Bombus terrestris and a wider variety of other Bombus species. Correspondence: Eckart Stolle, Fax: + + 49-345-5527264; E-mail: eckart.stolle@zoologie.uni-halle.de Ó 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd Molecular Ecology Resources (2009) 9, 1345–1352 doi: 10.1111/j.1755-0998.2009.02610.x