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Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

Veterinary bacteriology: information about important bacteria
Veterinary bacteriology


New names of bacterial phyla

There is a later edition (2008) of this book.

The rules for naming bacteria [International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP)] previously did not include the taxonomic category phylum, but recently (February 2021) the members of the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP) have decided that this will happen in the future. It has been decided that all names of phyla should be written in italics (which has been done on VetBact also before) and have the ending -ota. In addition, the phylum name must be based on a genus, which must constitute the nomenclature type of the phylum in question. An article by Aharon Oren and George M. Garrity entitled Valid publication of the names of forty-two phyla of prokaryotes has been published.

The new names of phyla will be entered on VetBact, but it will take some time as 277 bacteria pages are to be revised. You will continue to be able to search for the old names on phyla. 

Below is a list of the phyla whose names have been changed so far on VetBact. The old names are in brackets:

  • 2023-03-01: (Actinobacteria) ---> Actinomycetota
  • 2023-03-08: (Firmicutes) ---> Bacillota
  • 2023-03-08: (Spirochaetes) ---> Spirochaetota
  • 2023-03-15: (Chlamydiae)  --->  Chlamydiota
  • 2023-03-15: (Bacteroidetes)  --->  Bacteroidota
  • 2023-03-15: (Fusobacteria)  --->  Fusobacteriota
  • 2023-03-15: (Tenericutes)  --->  Mycoplasmatota

Published: 2023-03-01, updated: 2023-03-15.


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New names of bacterial phyla

The taxonomic category phylum was previously not regulated by the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP), but now this has changed and it was decided to revise the names of bacterial phyla. All phyla must be written in italics (which has been done on VetBact also before) and have the ending -ota.

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