Recommendations of the Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Campylobacter and related bacteria

The ICSB Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Campylobacter and related bacteria has discussed several contemporaneous issues and makes the following recom mendations. (i) The reported synonymy between Campylobacter coli and Campyl obacter hyoilei was based on valid taxonomic arguments. The subcommittee th erefore discourages the use of the name C. hyoilei. (ii) The revised infras ubspecific nomenclature of Campylobacter sputorum is endorsed. C. sputorum is subdivided into C. sputorum biovar sputorum (characterized by the absenc e of catalase and urease activity); C. sputorum biovar faecalis (characteri zed by catalase but not urease activity); and C. sputorum biovar paraureoly ticus (characterized by urease, but not catalase activity). (iii) The subco mmittee points out that 'Flexispira rappini' is a taxon that is circumscrib ed by means of morphological criteria. It encompasses multiple Helicobacter species, including Helicobacter bills and Helicobacter trogontum. (iv) Fin ally, the subcommittee wishes to point out that the etymology of several sp ecific or subspecific epithets of Campylobacter taxa has been corrected and that the spelling of the epithet 'fecalis' was corrected to 'faecalis'.