How are clashing species names handled in GTDB curation?

Bacterial Taxonomy
1

Hey,

I have noticed that the genus Waltera isnt used by GTDB, instead choosing to classify Waltera species as Acetatifactor species.

While this works currently given there is only one Waltera sp. and two Acetatifactor sp. it brought to mind a greater issue of how do you handle when there are species in both genera with the same species name? For example, if there is a W. hominis and A. hominis, you couldnt classify W. hominis as A. hominis, so would you rename it (which would lead to more confusion) or assign a number code (which ignores the fact this is a named species)?

Best,
Tom

2

Hi Tom,

Acetatifactor has naming priority over Waltera. That is, it was published earlier so if one decided to merge these two genera the rules of nomenclature indicate the resulting genus must be named Acetatifactor. You can find this sort of nomenclature information at LPSN:

W. hominis would be named A. hominis_A in GTDB. This is a placeholder name. Ultimately, a new specific name should be proposed for this group of strains.