Burkholderia cocovenenans (van Damme et al. 1960) Gillis et al. 1995 and Burkholderia vandii Urakami et al. 1994 are junior synonyms of Burkholderia gladioli (Severini 1913) Yabuuchi et al. 1993 and Burkholderia plantarii (Azegami et al. 1987) Urakami et al. 1994, respectively.

Reference strains of Burkholderia cocovenenans and Burkholderia vandii were compared with strains of other Burkholderia species using SDS-PAGE of whole-cell proteins, DNA-DNA hybridization and extensive biochemical characterization. Burkholderia gladioli and B. cocovenenans were indistinguishable in the chemotaxonomic and biochemical analyses. Burkholderia plantarii and B. vandii had indistinguishable whole-cell protein patterns but the B. vandii type strain differed from B. plantarii strains in several biochemical tests. The DNA-DNA binding levels (higher than 70%) indicated that (i) B. gladioli and B. cocovenenans, and (ii) B. plantarii and B. vandii each represent a single species. It is concluded that B. cocovenenans and B. vandii are junior synonyms of B. gladioli and B. plantarii, respectively.