Name: Methanobacterium Kluyver and van Niel 1936 (Approved Lists 1980)

Category: Genus

Proposed as: gen. nov.

Etymology: Me.tha.no.bac.te.ri.um. N.L. neut. n. methanum, methane; from French masc. n. méthyle; from Chem. neut. suff. -ane; N.L. pref. methano-, pertaining to methane (in compound words); N.L. neut. n. bacterium, a rod; N.L. neut. n. Methanobacterium, methane (-producing) rod

Gender: neuter (stem: Methanobacteri-)

Type species: Methanobacterium formicicum Schnellen 1947 (Approved Lists 1980)

Conduct genome-based taxonomy of genus at TYGS

16S rRNA gene: Analyse FASTA

Effective publication: Kluyver AJ, Van Niel CB. Prospects for a natural system of classification of bacteria. Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie, Parasitenkunde, Infektionskrankheiten und Hygiene. Abteilung II 1936; 94:369-403.

IJSEM list: Skerman VBD, McGowan V, Sneath PHA. Approved lists of bacterial names. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1980; 30:225-420.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

Taxonomic status: correct name

Risk group: 1

• Notes:
  • 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the class Methanobacteria Boone 2002. Publication: Boone DR. Class I. Methanobacteria class. nov. In: Boone DR, Castenholz RW, Garrity GM (eds), Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, 2nd edn, vol. 1 (The Archaea and the Deeply Branching and Phototrophic Bacteria), Springer, New York, 2001, p. 213-235.
  • 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the domain Archaea Woese et al. 2024. Publication: Goker M, Oren A. Valid publication of names of two domains and seven kingdoms of prokaryotes. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2024; 74:6242.
  • 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the family Methanobacteriaceae Barker 1956 (Approved Lists 1980). Publication: Barker HA. Bacterial fermentations. John Wiley, New York, 1956.
  • 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the kingdom Methanobacteriati (Garrity and Holt 2023) Oren and Göker 2024. Publication: Goker M, Oren A. Valid publication of names of two domains and seven kingdoms of prokaryotes. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2024; 74:6242.
  • 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the order Methanobacteriales Balch and Wolfe 1981. Publication: Balch WE, Fox GE, Magrum LJ, Woese CR, Wolfe RS. Methanogens: reevaluation of a unique biological group. Microbiol Rev 1979; 43:260-296.
  • 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the phylum Methanobacteriota Garrity and Holt 2023. Publication: Goker M, Oren A. Valid publication of four additional phylum names. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2023; 73:6024.
  • 🧕 Balch et al. (1979) assigned this genus to the order Methanobacteriales Balch and Wolfe 1981. Publication: Balch WE, Fox GE, Magrum LJ, Woese CR, Wolfe RS. Methanogens: reevaluation of a unique biological group. Microbiol Rev 1979; 43:260-296.
  • 🧕 Breed et al. (1957) assigned this genus to the family Spirillaceae Migula 1894 (Approved Lists 1980). Publication: Parker CD. Genus V. Thiobacillus Beijerinck 1904. In: Breed RS, Murray EGD, Smith NR (eds), Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, 7th edition, The Williams & Wilkins Co, Baltimore, 1957, p. 83-88.
  • 🧕 Göker and Oren (2023) assigned this genus to the phylum Methanobacteriota Garrity and Holt 2023. Publication: Goker M, Oren A. Valid publication of four additional phylum names. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2023; 73:6024.
  • 🧕 Göker and Oren (2024) assigned this genus to the kingdom Methanobacteriati (Garrity and Holt 2023) Oren and Göker 2024. Publication: Goker M, Oren A. Valid publication of names of two domains and seven kingdoms of prokaryotes. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2024; 74:6242.
  • 🧕 Kluyver and Van Niel (1936) assigned this genus to the tribe Pseudomonadeae Kluyver and Van Niel 1936 (Approved Lists 1980). Publication: Kluyver AJ, Van Niel CB. Prospects for a natural system of classification of bacteria. Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie, Parasitenkunde, Infektionskrankheiten und Hygiene, Abteilung II 1936; 94:369-403.
  • 🧕 Woese and Fox (1977) assigned this genus to the kingdom "Archaebacteria" Woese and Fox 1977. Publication: Woese CR, Fox GE. Phylogenetic structure of the prokaryotic domain: the primary kingdoms. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1977; 74:5088-5090.
  • 🙄 This taxon name is occasionally misprinted (or affected by an OCR error) in some sources as: "Afethanobacterium"; "Iethanobacterium"; "Jltlethanobacterium"; "Melhanobacterium"; "Methabacterium"; "Methanabacterium"; "Methanbacterium"; "Methanobacte"; "Methanobacter"; "Methanobacteritum"; "Methanobacteriurn"; "Methanobacterlum"; "Methanobacterum"; "Methanobactmum"; "Methanobactnium"; "Methanobacttrium"; "Methanobaeterium"; "Methanobatterium"; "Methanohacterium"; "Methmobacterium"; "Methunobacferium"; "Methunobacterium"; "Metkanobacterium"; "Mlethanobacterium"; "Mnhanobacterium"; "Mtthanobacterium".
  • 🖹 Minimal standards for the description of new taxa in this group were published in 1988. Publication: Boone DR, Whitman WB. Proposal of Minimal Standards for Describing New Taxa of Methanogenic Bacteria. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 1988; 38:212-219.
  • 🖹 Minimal standards for the description of new taxa in this group were published in 1988. Publication: D.r. Boone WBW. Proposal of Minimal Standards for Describing New Taxa of Methanogenic Bacteria. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 1988; 38:212-219.
  • 🖹 Minimal standards for the description of new taxa in this group were published in 2023. Publication: Prakash O, Dodsworth JA, Dong X, Ferry JG, L'Haridon S, Imachi H, Kamagata Y, Rhee SK, Sagar I, Shcherbakova V, et al. Proposed minimal standards for description of methanogenic archaea. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2023; 73:5500.
  • 🎰 The BRCs most frequently used for deposits in this group are: DSM: 40; JCM: 19; ATCC: 17; VKM: 15; NBRC: 13; CGMCC: 3; BCRC: 1.
  • 😷 The risk group for Canada has been imported on 2024-02-27. The full classification is: risk group = 1, note = "Animal classification RG: 1 - Security sensitive biological agent: No - Terrestrial animal pathogen under Canadian Food Inspection Agency authority: No - Containment level: Containment Level 1". — If in doubt, use the risk group given in the regulations for your country and, if these are not available, use the risk group given in the catalogue of the culture collection from which you have obtained or intend to obtain the strain.
  • 🧍 Pittman et al. (1991) suggested the abbreviation "MEBT" for this genus name but this does not appear to be of practical relevance any longer. Publication: Pittman KF, Walczak CA, Lock CM. Codes and abbreviations for approved of effectively published names of genera of bacteria published from January 1980 to December 1990. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1991; 41:571-579.

Subdivision:

Number of child taxa with a validly published and correct name: 27
Number of child taxa with a validly published name, including synonyms: 37
Total number of child taxa: 44

• Child taxa:

  • Name	Nomenclatural status	Taxonomic status
    Methanobacterium aarhusense Shlimon et al. 2004	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium aggregans Kern et al. 2015	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium alcaliphilum Worakit et al. 1986	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium alkalithermotolerans Mei et al. 2022	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium arbophilicum Zeikus and Henning 1975 (Approved Lists 1980)	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Methanobacterium arcticum Shcherbakova et al. 2011	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium aridiramus Lee et al. 2025	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium beijingense Ma et al. 2005	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium bryantii Balch and Wolfe 1981	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Methanobacterium cahuitense" Dengler et al. 2023	not validly published	preferred name (not correct name)
    Methanobacterium congolense Cuzin et al. 2001	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Methanobacterium curvum" Sun et al. 2001	not validly published	preferred name (not correct name)
    Methanobacterium defluvii Kotelnikova et al. 1994	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Methanobacterium espanolae Patel et al. 1990	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium ferruginis Mori and Harayama 2011	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium flexile Zhu et al. 2011	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium formicicum Schnellen 1947 (Approved Lists 1980)	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium ivanovii Jain et al. 1988	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium kanagiense Kitamura et al. 2011	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium lacus Borrel et al. 2012	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium mobile corrig. Paynter and Hungate 1968 (Approved Lists 1980)	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Methanobacterium mobilis Paynter and Hungate 1968 (Approved Lists 1980)	inaccurate spelling	misspelling
    Methanobacterium movens Zhu et al. 2011	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium movilense Schirmack et al. 2014	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium oryzae Joulian et al. 2000	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium paludis Cadillo-Quiroz et al. 2014	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium palustre Zellner et al. 1990	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium petrolearium Mori and Harayama 2011	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium ruminantium Smith and Hungate 1958 (Approved Lists 1980)	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Methanobacterium spitsbergense Trubitsyn et al. 2024	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium subterraneum Kotelnikova et al. 1998	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium thermaggregans corrig. Blotevogel and Fischer 1988	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium thermalcaliphilum corrig. Blotevogel et al. 1988	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Methanobacterium thermautotrophicum corrig. Zeikus and Wolfe 1972 (Approved Lists 1980)	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Methanobacterium thermoaggregans Blotevogel and Fischer 1988	inaccurate spelling	misspelling
    Methanobacterium thermoalcaliphilum Blotevogel et al. 1988	inaccurate spelling	misspelling
    Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum Zeikus and Wolfe 1972 (Approved Lists 1980)	inaccurate spelling	misspelling
    Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicus Zeikus and Wolfe 1972 (Approved Lists 1980)	inaccurate spelling	misspelling
    Methanobacterium thermoflexum Kotelnikova et al. 1994	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Methanobacterium thermoformicicum Zhilina and Ilarionov 1986	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Methanobacterium thermophilum Laurinavichus et al. 1990	validly published under the ICNP	synonym
    Methanobacterium uliginosum König 1985	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium veterum Krivushin et al. 2010	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    Methanobacterium wolfei Winter et al. 1985	validly published under the ICNP	synonym

Parent taxon: Methanobacteriaceae Barker 1956 (Approved Lists 1980)

Assigned by: Balch WE, Fox GE, Magrum LJ, Woese CR, Wolfe RS. Methanogens: reevaluation of a unique biological group. Microbiol Rev 1979; 43:260-296.

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Record number: 517064