Name: Rothia dentocariosa corrig. (Onishi 1949) Georg and Brown 1967 (Approved Lists 1980)

Category: Species

Proposed as: comb. nov.

Basonym: "Actinomyces dentocariosus" Onishi 1949

Etymology: den.to.ca.ri.o’sa. L. masc. n. dens (gen. dentis), tooth; L. adj. cariosus -a -um, decayed, rotten; N.L. fem. adj. dentocariosa, tooth-decaying

Pronunciation, gender: den-to-ka-ri-O-sa, feminine

Type strain: ATCC 17931; CCUG 35437; CIP 81.83; DSM 43762; DSM 46363; IFO 12531; JCM 3067; NBRC 12531; NCTC 10917; NRRL B-8017

See detailed strain information at

Conduct genome-based taxonomy at

16S rRNA gene: M59055 Analyse FASTA

Effective publication: Georg LK, Brown JM. Rothia, gen. nov., an aerobic genus of the family Actinomycetaceae. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 1967; 17:79-88.

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
    "Nocardia dentocariosus" (Onishi 1949) Roth 1957	homotypic synonym, not validly published
    Rothia dentocariosus (Onishi 1949) Georg and Brown 1967 (Approved Lists 1980)	other spelling of name, inaccurate spelling
    "Actinomyces dentocariosus" Onishi 1949	homotypic synonym, not validly published, basonym of name in Approved Lists

• Emendations:
  • Daneshvar et al. 2004 Daneshvar MI, Hollis DG, Weyant RS, Jordan JG, MacGregor JP, Morey RE, Whitney AM, Brenner DJ, Steigerwalt AG, Helsel LO, et al. Identification of some charcoal-black-pigmented CDC fermentative coryneform group 4 isolates as Rothia dentocariosa and some as Corynebacterium aurimucosum: proposal of Rothia dentocariosa emend. Georg and Brown 1967, Corynebacterium aurimucosum emend. Yassin et al. 2002, and Corynebacterium nigricans Shukla et al. 2003 pro synon. Corynebacterium aurimucosum. J Clin Microbiol 2004; 42:4189-4198. Euzeby JP. List of changes in taxonomic opinion no. 1. Notification of changes in taxonomic opinion previously published outside the IJSEM. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2005; 55:7-8.
  • 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:
  • 🥇 Nomenclatural type of the genus Rothia Georg and Brown 1967 (Approved Lists 1980). Publication: Georg LK, Brown JM. Rothia, gen. nov., an aerobic genus of the family Actinomycetaceae. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 1967; 17:79-88.
  • 😷 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 = 1, note = "PIIC". — 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 185 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 (Reading) 2022; 168:0.

Parent taxon: Rothia Georg and Brown 1967 (Approved Lists 1980)

Assigned by: Georg LK, Brown JM. Rothia, gen. nov., an aerobic genus of the family Actinomycetaceae. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 1967; 17:79-88.

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Record number: 780594