Microsatellite DNA variation among Asian and North American gypsy moths (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)

Four microsatellite DNA loci were used to assay allelic variation in 4 gypsy moth populations (Japan, Russian far east, China, and North America). These loci were highly polymorphic, with up to 17 alleles per locus and heterozygosity values in the 3 Asian populations typically > 0.6. Consistent with earlier. studies employing DNA markers, variation in the North American population was lower than in Asia presumably because of the recent population bottleneck associated with the release of European moths in North America. An assignment test was developed to estimate the likelihood that a multilocus genotype is derived from the population from, which it was sampled. Moths from North America and Japan assign to their respective populations with high likelihood, but some moths from Russia and China do not. This is consistent with our knowledge of the recent evolutionary history of these populations, and means that investigators must be alert to the potential of false negatives (true Asian moths that appear North American at multiple loci) in the assignment of suspect moths captured in North America.