Beschreibung:
<jats:p>• <jats:italic>Premise of the study:</jats:italic> Microsatellite markers were developed for <jats:italic>Clianthus puniceus</jats:italic> using a shotgun sequencing library and tested for cross amplification in the closely related <jats:italic>C. maximus</jats:italic> to inform population management of these two endangered species.</jats:p><jats:p>• <jats:italic>Methods and Results:</jats:italic> We constructed a shotgun sequencing library using a Roche 454 sequencer and searched the resulting data set for putative microsatellite regions. We optimized 12 of these regions to produce polymorphic markers for <jats:italic>Clianthus</jats:italic>. We tested these markers on four populations of <jats:italic>C. maximus</jats:italic> and on four <jats:italic>C. puniceus</jats:italic> individuals of known provenance. Alleles per locus ranged from two to nine, while observed and expected heterozygosities per locus ranged from 0.000 to 1.000 and 0.178 to 0.600, respectively.</jats:p><jats:p>• <jats:italic>Conclusions:</jats:italic> These markers will be valuable for ongoing monitoring of the genetic variation in naturally occurring populations of <jats:italic>Clianthus</jats:italic> and for the selection of individuals for revegetation projects in the species’ former range.</jats:p>