Abstract: The gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar L. (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae), is one of the most important agricultural and forest insect pests. It is composed of several subspecies, among which the Asian gypsy moth female adults with stronger flight ability have become serious international quarantine pests. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to distinguish these subspecies morphologically. Herein, the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to analyze the genetic polymorphism of six gypsy moth populations collected from different provinces in China. The results showed that the genetic differentiation coefficient (G_st) among the gypsy moth populations was 0.7571 and the deduced effective number of migrants (N_em, a gene flow index) was 0.1604, suggesting that these populations are highly differentiated and the gene flow between them is very low. Based on genetic analyses, four populationspecific loci were located, followed by cloning and sequencing, sequence analyses and locusspecific primer designing. Finally, the sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) markers for two gypsy moth populations were developed. The results of primer testing showed that these SCAR markers could be used for rapid and accurate identification of the two gypsy moth populations, which is helpful for monitoring the distribution and dispersal of gypsy moth populations.

Key words: Lymantria dispar, geographic population, random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) marker, sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker