TAXONOMY OF SOME RECENTLY DESCRIBED SPECIES IN FAMILY ENTEROBACTERIACEAE

The taxonomic positions of several recently described species, Levinea malonatica, L. amalonatica, Citrobacter diversus and Enterobacter agglomerans, were investigated by numerical analysis. A set of 141 strains, for which a total of 240 characters was recorded, was analyzed and also compared with representatives of a set of 384 strains of bacteria, examined in an earlier study, representing genera within the family Enterobacteriaceae. Three clusters of Citrobacter spp. were observed, C. freundii, Citrobacter spp. and L. amalonatica, with strains received as C. diversus and L. malonatica clustering with the Citrobacter spp. C. intermedius was concluded to be synonymous with C. freundii. L. malonatica, from the results of this study, was included in the species C. diversus. H2S-positive strains of Escherichia coli were not judged to warrant separate species status. Klebsiella aerogenes, K. pneumoniae, K. oxytoca and K. edwardsii were highly related (similarity values > 90%). It is proposed that these species be merged into a single species, K. pneumoniae.