Name: Proteobacteria Stackebrandt et al. 1988

Category: Class

Proposed as: class. nov.

Etymology: Pro.te.o.bac.te’ri.a. Gr. masc. n. Prôteus, Greek god of the sea, capable of assuming many different shapes; N.L. neut. pl. n. bacteria, plural of bacterium; N.L. neut. pl. n. Proteobacteria, protean group of bacteria of diverse properties despite a common ancestry (not formed from a genus name)

Pronunciation (Latin), gender: pro-te-o-bak-TE-ri-a, neuter

Valid publication: Stackebrandt E, Murray RGE, Trüper HG. Proteobacteria classis nov., a name for the phylogenetic taxon that includes the "purple bacteria and their relatives". Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1988; 38:321-325. 🇩🇪

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP, rejected name

Taxonomic status: not in use

• Notes:
  • 🧕 Stackebrandt et al. (1988) assigned this class to the division Gracilicutes Gibbons and Murray 1978 (Approved Lists 1980). Publication: Stackebrandt E, Murray RGE, Trüper HG. Proteobacteria classis nov., a name for the phylogenetic taxon that includes the "purple bacteria and their relatives". Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1988; 38:321-325. 🇩🇪
  • 🧒 Bowman et al. (1993) assigned the family Methylococcaceae Whittenbury and Krieg 1984 to this class. Publication: Bowman JP, Sly LI, Nichols PD, Hayward AC. Revised taxonomy of the methanotrophs: description of Methylobacter gen. nov., emendation of Methylococcus, validation of Methylosinus and Methylocystis species, and a proposal that the family Methylococcaceae includes only the group I methanotrophs. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1993; 43:735-753. 🇦🇺
  • 🧒 Ivanova and Mikhailov (2001) assigned the family Alteromonadaceae Ivanova and Mikhailov 2001 to this class. Publication: Ivanova EP, Mikhailov VV. [A new family of Alteromonadaceae fam. nov., including the marine proteobacteria species Alteromonas, Pseudoalteromonas, Idiomarina i Colwellia]. Mikrobiologiia 2001; 70:15-23. 🇷🇺
  • 🧒 Li et al. (2025) assigned the family "Aegicerorhabdaceae" Li et al. 2025 to this class. Publication: Li M, Li W, Gao M, Lan J, Gao C, Yi X. A new family of the order Alteromonadales, Aegicerorhabdaceae fam. nov. with description of two novel species Aegicerorhabdus qinzhovensis gen. nov., sp. nov., and Gallaecimonas aegicerasi sp. nov. Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek 2025; 118:192. 🇨🇳
  • 🙄 This taxon name is occasionally misprinted (or affected by an OCR error) in some sources as: "Amoebacteria"; "Boteobacteria"; "Jroleobacteria"; "Jroteobacteria"; "Pateobacteria"; "Pmteobacteria"; "Poteobacteria"; "Preoteobacteria"; "Preotobacteria"; "Proeteobacteria"; "Proetobacteria"; "Profeobacferia"; "Profeobacteria"; "Proleobacteria"; "Proreobacteria"; "Protebacteria"; "Protecbacteria"; "Protecobacteria"; "Proteinbacteria"; "Protenbacteria"; "Proteoabcteria"; "Proteobacleiia"; "Proteobacleria"; "Proteobacreria"; "Proteobacte"; "Proteobacteiia"; "Proteobactena"; "Proteobacteriae"; "Proteobacteriota"; "Proteobacterota"; "Proteobactma"; "Proteobuctena"; "Proteoobacteria"; "Proteoteobacteria"; "Proterobacteria"; "Protevbacteria"; "Prothbacteria"; "Protobacteria"; "Protrobacteria"; "Prottabacteria"; "Prottobacteria"; "Prouabacteria"; "Prouobacteria"; "Pvoteobacteria"; "Teobacteria". — 🤨 This taxon name is occasionally used in singular form as: "Proteobacter"; "Proteobacterium".
  • 😟 A nomenclatural type has not been designated.
  • 🧔 This taxon was discussed in a meeting of a Taxonomic Subcommittee of the ICSP. Publication: Mousavi SA, Young JPW. International committee on systematics of prokaryotes subcommittee on the taxonomy of rhizobia and agrobacteria: Minutes of the 2025 closed annual meeting. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2026; 76:7149. 🇫🇮
  • 🧍 Rejected name (Opinion 128). No type order designated. Also used at other rank. Nomen dubium et ambiguum (Rule 56a). Publication: Goker M. Solving the remaining problems with names of classes. Request for an Opinion. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2022; 72:5605. 🇩🇪
  • 🧍 According to Rules 15, 22 and 27(3), the class Proteobacteria is illegitimate because it was proposed without the designation of a nomenclatural type. Publication: Euzeby JP, Tindall BJ. Nomenclatural type of orders: corrections necessary according to Rules 15 and 21a of the Bacteriological Code (1990 Revision), and designation of appropriate nomenclatural types of classes and subclasses. Request for an opinion. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2001; 51:725-727. 🇩🇪

Linking: To permanently link to this page, use https://doi.org/10.83108/rn.63Copy to clipboardLink copied to clipboard

Record number: 63