The seven-spotted lady beetle, Coccinella septempunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) has a broad ecological range, living almost anywhere there are aphids for feeding. In this study, we isolated and characterized a total of 10 microsatellite loci from the species. The loci were validated and characterized using 25 samples collected from five Korean localities. The number of alleles and heterozygosity observed at each locus ranged from 4 to 16 and from 0.37 to 0.89, respectively. None of the loci deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and there was no indication of significant linkage disequilibrium among pairs of loci. These microsatellite markers should be very valuable markers for population genetic studies of Coccinella septempunctata.

The Nilaparvata lugesn(BPH) and Laodelphax striatellus(SBPH) are major insect pests of rice in Korea. These BPHs migrate from China to Korea, but we have not exactly known about the route of long-distance migration of them. Molecular markers including microsatellite will be critical to asses gene flow in relation to geographical distance. In our work several microsatellite markers were developed for basic population genetic analysis of BPH and SBPH. Among each 21 microsatellite markers in BPH and SBPH, we could select 6 markers for BPH and 2 markers for SBPH as putative markers for analysis of population genetics. Others are further investigated for the possibility as markers. Development of polymorphic microsatellite loci are final stage of our work. But for good microsatellite markers to population genetics, we should do more experiments. Our work for development of microsatellites should facilitate the study of future population genetics of BPH and SBPH, and eventually elucidate the route of BPH and SBPH migration to Korea.