Name: Rhizorhabdus wittichii (Yabuuchi et al. 2001) Hördt et al. 2020

Category: Species

Proposed as: comb. nov.

Basonym: Sphingomonas wittichii Yabuuchi et al. 2001

Etymology: wit.tich.i’i. N.L. gen. masc. n. wittichii, of Wittich, referring to Rolf-Michael Wittich, the German bacteriologist who first isolated this potent metabolizer of dibenzo-p-dioxin from the water of the river Elbe and described the metabolism of the compound by this organism

Gender: feminine

Type strain: CCUG 31198; DSM 6014; EY 4224; JCM 10273; RW1; SMUM 2128

See detailed strain information at

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: AB021492 Analyse FASTA

Effective 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.

IJSEM list: Oren A, Garrity GM. Validation list no. 194. List of new names and new combinations previously effectively, but not validly, published. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2020; 70:4043-4049.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

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

• Synonyms:

  • Name	Kind
    Sphingomonas wittichii Yabuuchi et al. 2001	homotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP

• Notes:
  • 🧬 The phylogenomic assignment score of this taxon is 0.05863 (N = 17).
  • 🎓 Name mentioned 6 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 genus.

Parent taxon: Rhizorhabdus Francis et al. 2014

Assigned by: 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.

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Record number: 11116