Identification of single copy nuclear DNA markers for North American pit vipers.

We describe 18 single copy nuclear DNA loci (10 loci cloned from a Sistrurus catenatus catenatus genomic library and eight intron-based loci amplified using conserved primers) that detect sequence variation in species from all genera (Sistrurus, Agkistrodon and Crotalus) of North American pit viper snakes. These loci (mean size in bp ± SE: 433 ± 51) show large numbers of phylogenetically informative sites across species (mean + SE: 10.2 ± 1.5), but limited variation within subspecies suggesting that they will be most useful for multilocus species-level phylogenetic analyses in these snakes.