The cyanobacteriales: A legitimate order based on the type strain Cyanobacterium stanieri?

Abstract

As a logical consequence of the definition of a bacterium (Stanier and van Niel, 1962), R. Y. Stanier created the name "cyanobacteria" as a replacement for "blue-green algae". As such, cyanobacteria entered the 8th issue of Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology 1974 as members of the Procaryotae Murray 1968, this kingdom being composed of two divisions, Cyanobacteria and Bacteria. An even tighter integration of cyanobacteria with other bacteria was proposed by Gibbons and Murray (1978) for the next edition of Bergey's Manual. These authors suggested that the cyanobacteria be integrated as an order Cyanobacteriales in the class Photobacteria. However, this proposal was doomed to failure by constraints imposed under present rules of the Bacteriological Code (Lapage et al., 1976), one of which is that the type of an order is the genus upon whose name the higher taxon is based. A genus Cyanobacterium did not exist when Gibbons and Murray made their proposal, and a subsequent special request by the same authors for an exemption from this rule was not granted (Judicial Commission of the International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology, Holt, 1978). We present here a revised classification for unicellular cyanobacteria dividing in one plane wherein we propose, among other changes, the creation of two new genera. Cyanobium and Cyanobacterium. With the creation of the latter genus, the requirement for recognition of cyanobacteria as a legal order Cyanobacteriales under the Bacteriological Code should be fulfilled. We suggest that the type species of this genus by Cyanobacterium stanieri, in honor of the late Roger Y. Stanier.