The bluewildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) is distributed throughout southern and east Africa while the black wildebeest (Connochaetes gnou) is endemic to South Africa and was driven to near extinction in the early 1900s due to hunting pressure and disease outbreaks. Extensive translocation of both species throughout South Africa is threatening the genetic integrity of blue and blackwilde beest. To effectively manage these species, genetic tools that can be used to detect hybrid individuals, identify genetically unique subpopulations and determine the levels of genetic diversity are required. In this study, 11 microsatellite markers were developed for wildebeest through next-generation sequencing. The microsatellite loci displayed 2.00–4.14 alleles, unbiased heterozygosity values ranged from 0.32 to 0.60 and observed heterozygosity values ranged from 0.26 to 0.52. The comparatively high level of polymorphism observed in the microsatellite markers indicates that these markers can contribute significantly to our knowledge of population genetic structure, relatedness, genetic diversity and hybridization in these species.

Temminck’s ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) is one of four species of pangolin, endemic to Africa. Two of the African pangolin species are listed as vulnerable and two are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species due to their ongoing exploitation for traditional medicine and bushmeat. In this study, we developed 30 species-specific short-tandem repeats (STRs) in Temminck’s ground pangolin using next-generation sequencing. The markers were also optimized for crossamplification in other African species. All the markers amplified successfully in Temminck’s ground pangolin with allelic polymorphisms observed in 87% of the markers in giant pangolin (S. gigantea) whereas 60% of the markers were amplified polymorphic loci in both whitebellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) and black-bellied pangolin (P. tetradactyla). Analysis of diversity estimates showed moderate levels of variability in Temminck’s ground pangolin (N_a = 5; H_o = 0.559), giant pangolin (N_a = 4.909; H_o = 0.514) and white-bellied pangolin (N_a= 2.686; H_o = 0.541) with lower values being observed in black-bellied pangolin (N_a = 3; H_o = 0.242). This study provides data of the first available STR markers which was amplified in all four African pangolin species that can now be used in conservation genetic and evolutionary aspects of population histories.