Microsatellite development suggests evidence of polyploidy in the social sponge-dwelling snapping shrimp Zuzalpheus brooksi.

We isolated and characterized 33 novel, polymorphic microsatellite loci from the social sponge-dwelling snapping shrimp Zuzalpheus brooksi. We screened all 33 loci in approximately 31 individuals from a population of Z. brooksi from the Florida Keys, USA and found an average of 16 alleles per locus. Approximately 25% of the loci showed more than two bands per individual, suggesting evidence of high gene duplication, or more likely, polyploidy, which is common in crustaceans. The 25 disomic loci had an observed heterozygosity of 0.57 (range = 0.03-1.00) and will be useful for studying the social organization in Zuzalpheus shrimp.