Genus Pillotina

Name: Pillotina (ex Hollande and Gharagozlou 1967) Bermudes et al. 1988

Category, proposed as: genus, gen. nov., nom. rev.

Etymology: Pil.lo.ti’na. N.L. fem. n. Pillotina, named in honor of J. Pillot, a French microbiologist

Gender, pronunciation (Latin): feminine (stem: Pillotin-), pil-lo-TI-na

Type species: Pillotina calotermitidis (ex Hollande and Gharagozlou 1967) Bermudes et al. 1988

Conduct genome-based taxonomy of genus at TYGS

16S rRNA gene: Analyse FASTA

Valid publication: Bermudes D, Chase D, Margulis L. Morphology as a basis for taxonomy of large spirochetes symbiotic in wood-eating cockroaches and termites: Pillotina gen. nov., nom. rev.; Pillotina calotermitidis sp. nov., nom. rev.; Diplocalyx gen. nov., nom. rev.; Diplocalyx calotermitidis sp. nov., nom. rev.; Hollandina gen. nov., nom.[TRUNCATED]. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1988; 38:291-302.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

Taxonomic status: correct name

• Emendations:
  • Treitli and Brune 2026 Treitli SC, Mies US, Radek R, Zinnhardt PA, Silva JMK, Reuter L, Rohr NA, Platt K, Herve V, Plarre R, et al. Metabolic capacities of large "pillotinaceous" spirochetes from termite guts and their placement among Breznakiellaceae. BMC Biol 2026; 24:0. 🇩🇪
    Notes:
    • 🧍 As of 2026-09-15 this emendation was not yet included in an IJSEM List of Changes in Taxonomic Opinion.

• Notes:
  • 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the family "Pillotinaceae" Margulis and Hinkle 1992. Publication: Margulis L, Hinkle G. Large Symbiotic Spirochetes: Clevelandina, Cristispira, Diplocalyx, Hollandina, and Pillotina. In: Balows A, Trüper HG, Dworkin M, Harder W, Schleifer KH (eds), The Prokaryotes, Springer, New York, 1992, p. 3965-3978.
  • 🧕 Gupta et al. (2013) assigned this genus to the family Spirochaetaceae Swellengrebel 1907 (Approved Lists 1980). Publication: Gupta RS, Mahmood S, Adeolu M. A phylogenomic and molecular signature based approach for characterization of the phylum Spirochaetes and its major clades: proposal for a taxonomic revision of the phylum. Front Microbiol 2013; 4:217. 🇨🇦
  • 🧕 Hördt et al. (2020) assigned this genus to the family Spirochaetaceae Swellengrebel 1907 (Approved Lists 1980). Publication: Hordt A, Lopez MG, Meier-Kolthoff JP, Schleuning M, Weinhold LM, Tindall BJ, Gronow S, Kyrpides NC, Woyke T, Goker M. Analysis of 1,000+ Type-Strain Genomes Substantially Improves Taxonomic Classification of Alphaproteobacteria. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:468. 🇩🇪
  • 🧕 Wier et al. (2000) assigned this genus to the family "Pillotinaceae" Margulis and Hinkle 1992. Publication: Wier A, Ashen J, Margulis L. Canaleparolina darwiniensis, gen. nov., sp. nov., and other pillotinaceous spirochetes from insects. Int Microbiol 2000; 3:213-223. 🇺🇸
  • 🙄 This taxon name is occasionally misprinted (or affected by an OCR error) in some sources as: "Piliotina".
  • 🧍 Pittman et al. (1991) suggested the abbreviation "PITN" 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: 1
Number of child taxa with a validly published name, including synonyms: 1
Total number of child taxa: 2

• Child taxa:

  • Name	Nomenclatural status	Taxonomic status
    Pillotina calotermitidis (ex Hollande and Gharagozlou 1967) Bermudes et al. 1988	validly published under the ICNP	correct name
    "Candidatus Pillotina corrugata" Treitli and Brune 2026	not validly published	preferred name

Parent taxon: Breznakiellaceae Brune et al. 2022

Assigned by: Treitli SC, Mies US, Radek R, Zinnhardt PA, Silva JMK, Reuter L, Rohr NA, Platt K, Herve V, Plarre R, et al. Metabolic capacities of large "pillotinaceous" spirochetes from termite guts and their placement among Breznakiellaceae. BMC Biol 2026; 24:0. 🇩🇪

Linking: To permanently link to this page, use https://doi.org/10.83108/rn.517313Copy to clipboardLink copied to clipboard

Record number: 517313

• Previous versions:

  • Version	Date	JSON
    1	2026-03-31
    2	2026-07-06