Hemogregarines from Thamnophis s. sirtalis, Coluber constrictor priapus, Elaphe obsoleta quadrivittata, and E. g. guttara in northern Florida appeared to be conspecific on the basis of similar gamonts from all the hosts and sporogonic stages obtained from 3 hosts. The resemblance of gamonts to those of Hepatozoon sauritus, described from T. sauritus sackenii in southern Florida, justified comparison of DNA isolates from the type infection of H. sauritus with samples from each of the northern Florida hosts and with a morphologically distinct species, H. sirtalis, from northern Florida. A nucleotide sequence (530 bp) alignment of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene revealed 2 hemogregarine haplotypes that varied at 15 sites (p distance = 2.8%), which included 10 transitions and 5 transversions. Two well-supported clusters (100% bootstrap support) were revealed by a neighbor-joining tree topology. One cluster included the type infection of H. sauritus and all 4 of the other samples from the northern Florida hosts, with samples of H. sirtalis comprising a second cluster. Hepatozoon sauritus, therefore, is a polytopic species in contrast to the 8 other Hepatozoon species thus far described from snakes in Florida, each of which appears to parasitize a single host species.

The Florida scrub lizard (Sceloporus woodi) is one of a suite of species restricted to Florida scrub, a threatened ecosystem. We characterized eight microsatellite loci from scrub lizards based on screening of 75–91 individuals per locus. Polymorphism was high (8–20 alleles per locus). Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.32–0.83 and 0.77–0.91, respectively. These markers will be useful for population‐level analyses and can contribute to a genetic foundation for conservation strategies for this endemic species.

Microsatellites have been developed for few amphibian species. However, developing genetic markers for population genetic studies in amphibians is critical because amphibians are declining globally. The tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, is widespread throughout the United States and includes the endangered subspecies, A. t. stebbinsi. We present primers and amplification conditions for 10 polymorphic microsatellite loci that have produced successful results in three subspecies of A. tigrinum. Number of alleles per locus ranged from one to 11 and heterozygosity ranged from 0 to 0.815 depending on the subspecies and locus analysed. These markers should prove useful for future studies of genetic diversity and population subdivision.

Diaprepes abbreviatus L. is a polyphagous weevil affecting more than 270 species of plants. The larvae feed on roots of the trees causing damage that can kill the plant. Originally from the Caribbean, this weevil was first found in the United States in Apopka, Florida in 1964(Woodruff 1964 and it currently infests 23 counties in Florida. In 2000, D. abbreviatus was discovered in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas (Skaria & French 2001) and in 2005 in southern California (California Department of Food and Agriculture, CDFA, 2007).Different control measurements, which are specific to a particular life stage of the weevil, are currently in use (McCoy et al. 2007). However, when egg masses or larvae are found, the diagnosis of infestation is often delayed due to lack of reliable methods that allow one to identify nonadult stages. The objective of this study was to develop a method for species identification of immature stages of D. abbreviatus based on DNA barcoding technique. DNA barcoding consists of sequencing of a DNA segment from a specified region of the genome, and the "barcode" sequences are compared to those available in a reference database to determine the species represented by the sample. The mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase I (COI) is extensively used for barcoding of metazoans (Hebert et al. 2003). Moreover, COI sequences are the most commonly used for quarantine and forensic applications involving insects, Tetranychus mites (Lee & Lee 1997), Liriomyza leafminers (Scheffer et al. 2001) and Calliphora blowflies (Ames et al. 2006). In this study, a reliable method based on PCR and sequencing of the COI gene was developed to identify immature specimens of D. abbreviatus and to differentiate them from another common root weevil, Pantomorus cervinus (Boheman) Kuschel.Eight egg-masses of D. abbreviatus were provided by S. Frazer at the Division of Plant Industry (DPI) (Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services) rearing facility and kept at -20°C. Another clutch of eggs collected at Fairbanks Ranch (California) by D. Arena (CDFA) was reared by J. Bethke (University of California) and neonates were stored in 95% ethanol immediately