Characterization of seven microsatellite marker loci in the Malagasy civet (Fossa fossana)

We describe seven polymorphic markers that have been developed for the Malagasy civet (Fossa fossana) or Fanaloka, a nocturnal viverrid carnivore endemic to the island of Madagascar. We report primer sequences and annealing temperatures, as well as observed and expected heterozygosity values for each of these markers. The genotype frequencies for six of the markers significantly differed from Hardy–Weinberg expectations. This deviation may have been due to the presence of null alleles or to small sample size in conjunction with a high level of polymorphism.