Development of polymorphic microsatellite loci in the hermaphroditic freshwater snails Drepanotrema surinamense and Drepanotrema depressissimum.

We characterized new variable microsatellites in two congeneric species of hermaphroditic freshwater snails (Drepanotrema depressissimum and D. surinamense), as well as conditions for multiplexing and simultaneously genotyping sets of loci. D. depressissimum had high mean gene diversity (> 0.8) and large number of alleles (= 10.9) per population. Most loci and populations were at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The F(ST) estimates were low among lesser Antilles populations and larger with a Venezuelan population. Far less diversity was found in D. surinamense with mean number of alleles and gene diversity per population of 2.8 and 0.34, respectively. Very few heterozygous individuals were observed. The most likely explanation is a high selfing rate (> 0.825) in this species. Unsurprisingly, the F(ST) estimates among populations were much higher than in D. depressissimum. Cross-species amplification in three congeneric species was on the whole unsuccessful.