Name: Capnocytophaga sputigena Leadbetter et al. 1982

Category: Species

Proposed as: sp. nov.

Etymology: spu.ti.ge’na. L. neut. n. sputum, spit, sputum; N.L. adj. suff. -genus -gena -genum, born from; from L. v. gigno, to produce, give birth to, beget; N.L. fem. adj. sputigena, sputum-produced

Gender: feminine

Type strain: 4; ATCC 33612; CCUG 9714; CIP 104301; DSM 3292; DSM 7273; JCM 12967; LMG 11518; NCTC 11653

See detailed strain information at

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: X67609 Analyse FASTA

Effective publication: Leadbetter ER, Holt SC, Socransky SS. Capnocytophaga: new genus of gram-negative gliding bacteria. I. General characteristics, taxonomic considerations and significance. Arch Microbiol 1979; 122:9-16.

IJSEM list: Anonymous. Validation list no. 8. Validation of publication of new names and new combinations previously effectively published outside the IJSB. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1982; 32:266-268.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

Taxonomic status: correct name (and explicitly recommended for medical use)

Risk group: 2

• Emendations:
  • Hahnke et al. 2016 Hahnke RL, Meier-Kolthoff JP, Garcia-Lopez M, Mukherjee S, Huntemann M, Ivanova NN, Woyke T, Kyrpides NC, Klenk HP, Goker M. Genome-Based Taxonomic Classification of Bacteroidetes. Front Microbiol 2016; 7:2003. Oren A, Garrity GM. List of changes in taxonomic opinion no. 26. Notification of changes in taxonomic opinion previously published outside the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2017; 67:2081-2086.

• Notes:
  • 😷 The risk group for Belgium has been imported on 2024-02-05. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "human pathogen". — The risk group for Canada has been imported on 2024-02-27. The full classification is: risk group = 2, note = "Animal classification RG: 1 - Security sensitive biological agent: No - Terrestrial animal pathogen under Canadian Food Inspection Agency authority: No - Containment level: Containment Level 2". — The risk group for Swiss Confederation has been imported on 2024-02-01. The full classification is: risk group = 2. — The risk group for Germany has been imported on 2023-10-29. The full classification is: risk group = 2. — 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.
  • 🎓 Name mentioned 144 times in PubMed until 2025-06-04.
  • 🙆 This name is on the List of Recommended Names for bacteria of medical importance (LoRN) as the name to be applied to this species. The name is on LoRN because of the recorded risk group of the species itself.
  • 🧍 According to Bartlett et al. (2022), this species is an established human pathogen. Publication: Bartlett A, Padfield D, Lear L, Bendall R, Vos M. A comprehensive list of bacterial pathogens infecting humans. Microbiology 2022; 168:0.
  • 🧍 The phylogenetic position of this species was determined in a genome-scale analysis by García-López et al. (2019). Publication: Garcia-Lopez M, Meier-Kolthoff JP, Tindall BJ, Gronow S, Woyke T, Kyrpides NC, Hahnke RL, Goker M. Analysis of 1,000 Type-Strain Genomes Improves Taxonomic Classification of Bacteroidetes. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:2083.

Parent taxon: Capnocytophaga Leadbetter et al. 1982

Assigned by: Leadbetter ER, Holt SC, Socransky SS. Capnocytophaga: new genus of gram-negative gliding bacteria. I. General characteristics, taxonomic considerations and significance. Arch Microbiol 1979; 122:9-16.

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Record number: 774470