Name: Sphingobacterium spiritivorum (Holmes et al. 1982) Yabuuchi et al. 1983

Category: Species

Proposed as: comb. nov.

Basonym: Flavobacterium spiritivorum Holmes et al. 1982

Etymology: spi.ri.ti.vo.rum. L. masc. n. spiritus, spirit; N.L. masc. adj. suff. -vorus, devouring, eating; N.L. neut. adj. spiritivorum, spirit-devouring, intended to refer to the ability of the organism to attack spirits, i.e., alcohol, producing acid in the process

Gender: neuter

Type strain: ATCC 33861; CCUG 13224; CDC E7288; CIP 100542; DSM 11722; E7288; GIFU 3101; IFO 14948; JCM 1277; JCM 6897; LMG 8347; NBRC 14948; NCTC 11386

See detailed strain information at

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: M58778 Analyse FASTA

Valid publication: Yabuuchi E, Kaneko T, Yano I, Moss CW, Miyoshi N. Sphingobacterium gen. nov., Sphingobacterium spiritivorum comb. nov., Sphingobacterium multivorum comb. nov., Sphingobacterium mizutae sp. nov., and Flavobacterium indologenes sp. nov.: glucose-nonfermenting gram-negative rods in CDC groups IIK-2 and IIb. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1983; 33:580-598.

Nomenclatural status: validly published under the ICNP

Taxonomic status: correct name

Risk group: 2

• Synonyms:

  • Name	Kind
    Flavobacterium yabuuchiae Holmes et al. 1988	heterotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP
    Flavobacterium spiritivorum Holmes et al. 1982	homotypic synonym, validly published under the ICNP

• Emendations:
  • Lai et al. 2016 Lai WA, Hameed A, Liu YC, Hsu YH, Lin SY, Young CC. Sphingobacterium cibi sp. nov., isolated from the food-waste compost and emended descriptions of Sphingobacterium spiritivorum (Holmes et al. 1982) Yabuuchi et al. 1983 and Sphingobacteriumthermophilum Yabe et al. 2013. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2016; 66:5336-5344. Oren A, Garrity GM. Notification list. Notification that new names and new combinations have appeared in volume 66, part 12 of the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2017; 67:525-528.
    Notes:
    • The terminology used by the authors is in line with many other taxonomic studies and does not negatively affect their main results; some improvements may nevertheless be possible. Contrasting the term "chemotaxonomic" with "phenotypic" is not recommended. Whether taxa can have "members" is debatable. See the LPSN phylogeny page for details.

• Notes:
  • Nomenclatural type of the genus Sphingobacterium Yabuuchi et al. 1983. Publication: Yabuuchi E, Kaneko T, Yano I, Moss CW, Miyoshi N. Sphingobacterium gen. nov., Sphingobacterium spiritivorum comb. nov., Sphingobacterium multivorum comb. nov., Sphingobacterium mizutae sp. nov., and Flavobacterium indologenes sp. nov.: glucose-nonfermenting gram-negative rods in CDC groups IIK-2 and IIb. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1983; 33:580-598.
  • According to Takeuchi and Yokota (1992), this species is an earlier heterotypic synonym of Flavobacterium yabuuchiae Holmes et al. 1988. Publication: Takeuchi M, Yokota A. Proposals of Sphingobacterium faecium sp. nov., Sphingobacterium piscium sp. nov., Sphingobacterium heparinum comb. nov., Sphingobacterium thalpophilum comb. nov., and two genospecies of the genus Sphingobacterium and synonymy of Flavobacterium yabuuchiae and Sphingobacterium spiritivorum. J. Gen. Appl. Microbiol. 1992; 38:465-482.
  • 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.
  • The phylogenetic position of this species was determined in a genome-scale analysis by Hahnke et al. (2016). Publication: 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.

Parent taxon: Sphingobacterium Yabuuchi et al. 1983

Assigned by: Yabuuchi E, Kaneko T, Yano I, Moss CW, Miyoshi N. Sphingobacterium gen. nov., Sphingobacterium spiritivorum comb. nov., Sphingobacterium multivorum comb. nov., Sphingobacterium mizutae sp. nov., and Flavobacterium indologenes sp. nov.: glucose-nonfermenting gram-negative rods in CDC groups IIK-2 and IIb. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 1983; 33:580-598.

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Record number: 780981