BARAGONA, M.A.*; HAIG-LADEWIG, L.A.; WANG, S.Y.: Multiple Paternity in the Grass Shrimp Palaemonetes pugio

Microsatellite markers were used to study the mating system of Palaemonetes pugio. Grass shrimp genomic libraries were screened for clones containing di- or trinucleotide repeats. Positive clones were sequenced and PCR primers were designed for clones containing more than five tandem trinucleotide repeats or more than seven tandem dinucleotide repeats. Among the 11 microsatellite loci characterized, two were selected on the basis of polymorphism and ease of amplification to genotype 30 embryos from each of 10 brooding females collected from an estuary in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Results indicate that 8 of the 10 females were brooding embryos sired by more than one male.