Name: Fusobacterium mortiferum (Harris 1901) Moore and Holdeman 1970 (Approved Lists 1980)

Category: Species

Proposed as: comb. nov.

Basonym: "Bacillus mortiferus" Harris 1901

Etymology: mor.ti’fer.um. L. neut. adj. mortiferum, death-bringing, death bearing

Gender: neuter

Type strain: ATCC 25557; CCUG 14475; DSM 19809

See detailed strain information at

16S rRNA gene: M58680 Analyse FASTA

Effective publication: Moore WEC, Holdeman LV. Fusobacterium. In: Cato EP, Cummins CS, Holdeman LV, Johnson JL, Moore WEC, Smibert RM, Smith LDS (eds), Outline of Clinical Methods in Anaerobic Bacteriology, 2nd revision, Virginia Polytechnic Institute - Anaerobe Laboratory, Blacksburg/Virginia, 1970, p. 45-51.

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 (and explicitly recommended for medical use)

Risk group: 2

• Synonyms:

  • Name	Kind
    "Bacillus mortiferus" Harris 1901	homotypic synonym, not validly published, basonym of name in Approved Lists
    "Hiblerillus rectus" Heller 1922	heterotypic synonym, not validly published, basonym of name in Approved Lists
    Clostridium rectum (Heller 1922) Holdeman and Moore 1972 (Approved Lists 1980)	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP

• Emendations:
  • De Witte et al. 2017 De Witte C, Flahou B, Ducatelle R, Smet A, De Bruyne E, Cnockaert M, Taminiau B, Daube G, Vandamme P, Haesebrouck F. Detection, isolation and characterization of Fusobacterium gastrosuis sp. nov. colonizing the stomach of pigs. Syst Appl Microbiol 2017; 40:42-50. 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:
    • 🫂 Emendation accompanied by a proposal regarding the synonymy of the species.

• Notes:
  • ⏰ According to De Witte et al. (2017), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of "Hiblerillus rectus" Heller 1922. Publication: De Witte C, Flahou B, Ducatelle R, Smet A, De Bruyne E, Cnockaert M, Taminiau B, Daube G, Vandamme P, Haesebrouck F. Detection, isolation and characterization of Fusobacterium gastrosuis sp. nov. colonizing the stomach of pigs. Syst Appl Microbiol 2017; 40:42-50.
  • ⏰ According to De Witte et al. (2017), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Clostridium rectum (Heller 1922) Holdeman and Moore 1972 (Approved Lists 1980). Publication: De Witte C, Flahou B, Ducatelle R, Smet A, De Bruyne E, Cnockaert M, Taminiau B, Daube G, Vandamme P, Haesebrouck F. Detection, isolation and characterization of Fusobacterium gastrosuis sp. nov. colonizing the stomach of pigs. Syst Appl Microbiol 2017; 40:42-50.
  • 😷 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 101 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.

Parent taxon: Fusobacterium Knorr 1922 (Approved Lists 1980)

Assigned by: Moore WEC, Holdeman LV. Fusobacterium. In: Cato EP, Cummins CS, Holdeman LV, Johnson JL, Moore WEC, Smibert RM, Smith LDS (eds), Outline of Clinical Methods in Anaerobic Bacteriology, 2nd revision, Virginia Polytechnic Institute - Anaerobe Laboratory, Blacksburg/Virginia, 1970, p. 45-51.

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Record number: 783878