Name: Rhodococcus erythropolis (Gray and Thornton 1928) Goodfellow and Alderson 1979 (Approved Lists 1980)

Category: Species

Proposed as: comb. nov.

Basonym: "Mycobacterium erythropolis" Gray and Thornton 1928

Etymology: Gr. masc. adj. erythros, red; Gr. fem. n. polis, a city; N.L. fem. n. erythropolis, red city (nominative in apposition)

Gender: masculine

Type strain: ATCC 4277; CIP 104179; DSM 43066; HAMBI 1953; IEGM 7; IFO 15567; JCM 20419; JCM 3201; LMG 5359; N11; NBRC 15567; NCIB 9158; NCIMB 9158; NCTC 13021; NRRL B-16025; VKM Ac-858

See detailed strain information at

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: X79289 Analyse FASTA

Effective publication: Goodfellow M, Alderson G. The actinomycete-genus Rhodococcus: a home for the "rhodochrous" complex. J Gen Microbiol 1977; 100:99-122.

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

Risk group: 1

• Synonyms:

  • Name	Kind
    "Mycobacterium erythropolis" Gray and Thornton 1928	homotypic synonym, not validly published, basonym of name in Approved Lists
    Rhodococcus baikonurensis Li et al. 2004	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP
    Rhodococcus degradans Švec et al. 2015	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP
    Rhodococcus enclensis Dastager et al. 2014	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP
    Rhodococcus jialingiae Wang et al. 2010	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP
    Rhodococcus qingshengii Xu et al. 2007	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP

• Emendations:
  • Nouioui et al. 2018 Nouioui I, Carro L, Garcia-Lopez M, Meier-Kolthoff JP, Woyke T, Kyrpides NC, Pukall R, Klenk HP, Goodfellow M, Goker M. Genome-Based Taxonomic Classification of the Phylum Actinobacteria. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:2007. Oren A, Garrity GM. List of changes in taxonomic opinion no. 29. Notification of changes in taxonomic opinion previously published outside the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2019; 69:13-32.

• Notes:
  • According to Koch et al. (1995), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Arthrobacter picolinophilus Tate and Ensign 1974 (Approved Lists 1980) but this is in conflict with the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes. Publication: Koch C, Klatte S, Schumann P, Burghardt J, Kroppenstedt RM, Stackebrandt E. Transfer of Arthrobacter picolinophilus Tate and Ensign 1974 to Rhodococcus erythropolis. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1995; 45:576-577.
  • According to Lee and Kim (2021), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Rhodococcus baikonurensis Li et al. 2004. Publication: Lee SD, Kim IS. Rhodococcus spelaei sp. nov., isolated from a cave, and proposals that Rhodococcus biphenylivorans is a later synonym of Rhodococcus pyridinivorans, Rhodococcus qingshengii and Rhodococcus baikonurensis are later synonyms of Rhodococcus erythropolis, and Rhodococcus percolatus and Rhodococcus imtechensis are later synonyms of Rhodococcus opacus. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2021; 71:4890.
  • According to Lee and Kim (2021), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Rhodococcus qingshengii Xu et al. 2007. Publication: Lee SD, Kim IS. Rhodococcus spelaei sp. nov., isolated from a cave, and proposals that Rhodococcus biphenylivorans is a later synonym of Rhodococcus pyridinivorans, Rhodococcus qingshengii and Rhodococcus baikonurensis are later synonyms of Rhodococcus erythropolis, and Rhodococcus percolatus and Rhodococcus imtechensis are later synonyms of Rhodococcus opacus. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2021; 71:4890.
  • According to Rainey et al. (1995), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Nocardia calcarea Metcalfe and Brown 1957 (Approved Lists 1980) but this is in conflict with the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes. Publication: Rainey FA, Burghardt J, Kroppenstedt R, Klatte S, Stackebrandt E. Polyphasic evidence for the transfer of Rhodococcus roseus to Rhodococcus rhodochrous. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1995; 45:101-103.
  • Synonymy of this taxon was mentioned in an IJSEM list. Publication: Oren A, Garrity GM. Notification list. Notification that new names and new combinations have appeared in volume 71, part 7 of the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2021; 71:5006.
  • The phylogenomic assignment score of this taxon is 0.02572 (N = 6).
  • 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.
  • Rhodococcus erythropolis (Gray and Thornton 1928) Goodfellow and Alderson 1979 (Approved Lists 1980) encompass the strains ATCC 13260, ATCC 19565, and ATCC 19566 of Nocardioides simplex (Jensen 1934) O'Donnell et al. 1983. Publication: Yoon JH, Lee JS, Shin YK, Park YH, Lee ST. Reclassification of Nocardioides simplex ATCC 13260, ATCC 19565, and ATCC 19566 as Rhodococcus erythropolis. Int J Syst Bacteriol 1997; 47:904-907.
  • The full TRBA 466 classification is: risk group = 1, note = "+".

Parent taxon: Rhodococcus Zopf 1891 (Approved Lists 1980)

Assigned by: Goodfellow M, Alderson G. The actinomycete-genus Rhodococcus: a home for the "rhodochrous" complex. J Gen Microbiol 1977; 100:99-122.

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Record number: 780449