Isolation and characterisation of 16 microsatellite loci from a widespread tropical hydrozoan, Lytocarpia brevirostris (Busk, 1852)

We isolated and characterized 16 polymorphic microsatellite loci for Lytocarpia brevirostris (Aglaophe- niidae), a hydrozoan common in the tropical Indo-Pacific region. Four to 34 alleles per locus were detected at the Indo-Pacific scale. At the population level, observed (Ho) and expected (He) heterozygosities ranged across 0.100–0.625 and 0.097–0.597, respectively. Three markers showed significant deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equi- librium, all of them presenting null alleles. Linkage dis- equilibrium was detected in three pairs of loci among 120. These primers provide powerful tools for studying popu- lation genetic diversity and the implication of life cycle strategies on population differentiation in tropical hydro- zoans. This will be valuable for the conservation of coral reefs biodiversity and the design of marine protected areas.