PAENIBACILLUS APIARIUS SP-NOV

The name ''Bacillus apiarius'' Katznelson 1955 was not included on the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names and thus lost standing in bacterial nomenclature, The genetic homogeneity of ''B, apiarius'' strains was assessed by determining their G + C contents by the buoyant density me thod and by measuring the levels of DNA relatedness by spectrophotomet ric reassociation procedures, The G + C contents of the 15 strains exa mined, ranged from 52 to 54 mol%. DNA reassociation revealed the prese nce of two clusters, each with high levels of intragroup relatedness ( 60 to 100%), One cluster consisted of six strains highly related to Ba cillus thiaminolyticus, and the other consisted of nine strains relate d to the designated type strain of ''B, apiarius.'' The strains in the second cluster were not closely related genetically to the type strai ns of organisms frequently associated with honey bees (namely, Paeniba cillus alvei, Paenibacillus larvae, Bacillus laterosporus, and Paeniba cillus pulvifaciens), The ''B, apiarius'' strains in the second cluste r were also phenotypically homogeneous and distinguishable from the pr eviously described species, Comparative analyses of the 16S rRNA gene DNA sequence showed that the proper phylogenetic position of the secon d cluster was in the genus Paenibacillus, These findings justify the p roposal of a new species with the name Paenibacillus apiarius. The typ e strain is NRRL NRS-1438.