Salinispora arenicola gen. nov., sp. nov. and Salinispora tropica sp. nov., obligate marine actinomycetes belonging to the family Micromonosporaceae.

A taxonomic study was carried out to clarify the taxonomy of representatives of a group of marine actinomycetes previously designated MAR 1 and considered to belong to the family Micromonosporaceae. The organisms had phenotypic properties consistent with their assignment to this taxon. The strains formed a distinct taxon in the 16S rRNA Micromonosporaceae gene tree and shared a range of phenotypic properties that distinguished them from members of all of the genera with validly published names classified in this family. The name proposed for this novel taxon is Salinispora gen. nov. The genus contains two species recognized using a range of genotypic and phenotypic criteria, including comparative 16S-23S rRNA gene spacer region and DNA-DNA relatedness data. The names proposed for these taxa are Salinispora arenicola sp. nov., the type species, and Salinispora tropica sp. nov.; the type strains of these novel species have been deposited in service culture collections as strain CNH-643(T) (=ATCC BAA-917(T)=DSM 44819(T)) and strain CNB-440(T) (=ATCC BAA-916(T)=DSM 44818(T)), respectively.