1 Title: Development of microsatellite markers for a giant water bug, Appasus 2 japonicus, distributed in East Asia 3 4 Authors: Tomoya Suzuki,1* Akira S. Hirao,2,3 Masaki Takenaka,4 Koki Yano,5 Koji 5 Tojo1,6,* 6 7 1FaCulty of SCience, Shinshu University, Asahi 3-1-1, Matsumoto, Nagano 390-8621, 8 Japan 9 2Sugadaira Research Station, Mountain SCience Center, University of Tsukuba, 10 Sugadairakogen 1278-294, Ueda, Nagano 386-2204, Japan 11 3FaCulty of SymbiotiC Systems SCience, Fukushima University, Kanayagawa 1, 12 Fukushima, Fukushima 960-1296, Japan 13 4Division of Evolutionary Developmental Biology, National Institute for BasiC Biology, 14 Nishigonaka 38, Myodaiji, Okazaki, AiChi 44-8585, Japan 15 5Department of Mountain and Environmental SCience, InterdisCiplinary Graduate 16 SChool of SCience and TeChnology, Shinshu University, Asahi 3-1-1, Matsumoto, 17 Nagano 390-8621, Japan 18 6Institute of Mountain SCience, Shinshu University, Asahi 3-1-1, Matsumoto, Nagano 19 390-8621, Japan 20 21 *Corresponding authors 22 Koji Tojo:
[email protected] 23 Tomoya Suzuki:
[email protected] 24 25 26 1 1 Abstract 2 We developed miCrosatellite markers for Appasus japonicus (Hemiptera: 3 Belostomatidae). This belostomatid bug is distributed in East Asia (Japanese 4 Archipelago, Korean Peninsula, and Mainland China), and often listed as endangered 5 speCies in the ‘Red List’ or the ‘Red Data Book’ at the national and local level in Japan. 6 Here we desCribe twenty novel polymorphiC miCrosatellite loci developed for A. 7 japonicus, and marker suitability was evaluated on 56 individuals from four A. 8 japonicus populations (Nagano, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi prefeCture, Japan, and 9 Chungcheongnam-do, Korea).