- Volume 64, Issue Pt_3, 2014

The genus name Rhodococcus Zopf 1891 was created to accommodate two species of red pigment (lipochrome)-producing bacteria. However, the genus name Rhodococcus Hansgirg 1884 had already been applied to an algal taxon. The wording of the 1975 and subsequent revisions of the Code dealing with bacteria/prokaryotes is such that the name Rhodococcus Zopf 1891 is illegitimate, despite the fact that it was included on the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names. Further research using databases of scientific names of organisms indicate the status of the name Rhodococcus Zopf 1891 needs to be carefully considered.

Thermomicrobium fosteri Phillips and Perry 1976 was included on the Approved List of Bacterial Names with the type strain designated ATCC 29033. However, this strain is no longer directly listed in the ATCC online catalogue and the only reference to ATCC 29033 is under ATCC 35268, a strain of Thermoleophilum minutum Zarilla and Perry 1986. There currently appears to be no formal documentation in the pages of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology with regards either the current status of the name Thermomicrobium fosteri Phillips and Perry 1976 or its type strain ATCC 29033.