Name: Cetobacterium somerae Finegold et al. 2003

Category: Species

Proposed as: sp. nov.

Etymology: so’me.rae. N.L. gen. fem. n. somerae, of Somer, to honour Hannele Jousimies-Somer, a Finnish microbiologist, in recognition of her important contributions to anaerobic bacteriology and to clinical microbiology

Pronunciation, gender: SO-me-ra͡e, neuter

Type strain: ATCC BAA-474; CCUG 46254; DSM 23941; WAL 14325

See detailed strain information at

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: AJ438155 Analyse FASTA

Effective publication: Finegold SM, Vaisanen ML, Molitoris DR, Tomzynski TJ, Song Y, Liu C, Collins MD, Lawson PA. Cetobacterium somerae sp. nov. from human feces and emended description of the genus Cetobacterium. Syst Appl Microbiol 2003; 26:177-181.

IJSEM list: Euzeby JP. Validation list no. 93. List of new names and new combinations previously effectively, but not validly, published. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2003; 53:1219-1220.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

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

Risk group: 1

• Notes:
  • 😷 The risk group for Germany has been imported on 2023-10-29. The full classification is: risk group = 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.
  • 🎓 Name mentioned 36 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 other species in the genus.
  • 🧍 According to Bartlett et al. (2022), this species was isolated from feces in healthy individuals. Publication: Bartlett A, Padfield D, Lear L, Bendall R, Vos M. A comprehensive list of bacterial pathogens infecting humans. Microbiology (Reading) 2022; 168:0.

Parent taxon: Cetobacterium Foster et al. 1996

Assigned by: Finegold SM, Vaisanen ML, Molitoris DR, Tomzynski TJ, Song Y, Liu C, Collins MD, Lawson PA. Cetobacterium somerae sp. nov. from human feces and emended description of the genus Cetobacterium. Syst Appl Microbiol 2003; 26:177-181.

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Record number: 783621