SummaryThis paper reports a map of nine polymorphic microsatellite markers previously assigned to bovine chromosome 3 (BTA3) by somatic cell genetics. The linkage group covers 101 cM on the chromosome with an average intermarker distance of 13‐9 cM. One marker (INRA200) was isolated from a peak of flow sorted chromosomes 2 and 3. Another marker (INRA197) was derived from a cosmid. The localization of the cosmid byin situhybridization enabled the orientation of the linkage group on BTA3. Markers were relatively evenly spaced and consequently can be used to complement other mapping data about this chromosome. This establishes a framework of polymorphic markers that can be used to search for quantitative trait loci (QTL