The redclaw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) is a freshwater crayfish
species endemic to northern Australia and Papua New Guinea that is the focus of a growing
culture industry in number of regions around the world. Here we isolated and characterized
15 microsatellite loci from Cherax quadricarinatus and tested variability
of the loci in 66 unrelated cultured individuals. Thirteen of 15 microsatellite loci were
polymorphic. Number of alleles per locus ranged from two to seven while observed and
expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.172 to 0.985 and from 0.373 to 0.778,
respectively. Eleven loci conformed to Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium in the sampled
population. These microsatellite loci developed here provide an important resource for
studying genetic diversity and population structure in redclaw crayfish and potentially in
other related species.