Isolation and characterization of 17 polymorphic microsatellite loci for the three-toed woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus).

We describe primers and polymerase chain reaction conditions to amplify 17 di-, tri- and tetranucleotide microsatellite loci from the three-toed woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus). The primers were tested on 26 to 30 individuals from a single population breeding in southern Finland. The developed primer pairs yielded an average of 7.6 alleles per locus (range two to 15), an average observed heterozygosity of 0.69 (range 0.07 to 0.97), and an average polymorphic information content of 0.68 (range 0.06 to 0.90).