Proposal of Hymenobacter norwichensis sp. nov., classification of 'Taxeobacter ocellatus', 'Taxeobacter gelupurpurascens' and 'Taxeobacter chitinovorans' as Hymenobacter ocellatus sp. nov., Hymenobacter gelipurpurascens sp. nov. and Hymenobacter chitinivorans sp. nov., respectively, and emended description of the genus Hymenobacter Hirsch et al. 1999.

Two airborne bacterial isolates, NS/2 and NS/50(T), were examined in order to determine their taxonomic position. Their almost complete 16S rRNA gene sequences shared 95.9 % similarity. Sequence comparisons demonstrated that their next relatives are species of the genus Hymenobacter (93.6-95.7 % similarity) and the strains 'Taxeobacter chitinovorans' Txc1(T), 'Taxeobacter gelupurpurascens' Txg1(T) and 'Taxeobacter ocellatus' Myx 2105(T) (90.5-96.4 %). Phylogenetic calculations indicated that these five strains together with the three recognized Hymenobacter species form a separate line of descent within the family 'Flexibacteraceae'. Isolates NS/2 and NS/50(T), as well as 'Taxeobacter chitinovorans' Txc1(T), 'Taxeobacter gelupurpurascens' Txg1(T) and 'Taxeobacter ocellatus' Myx 2105(T), possessed the characteristics of the genus Hymenobacter, the quinone system menaquinone MK-7 and a polyamine pattern with the major polyamine being sym-homospermidine. Each of the five strains had complex, unique polar lipid profiles, with phosphatidylethanolamine and several unknown aminophospho-, amino-, phospho-, glyco- and polar lipids of which several compounds were also found in established Hymenobacter species. All the strains studied possessed fatty acids characteristic of Hymenobacter species, including major acids iso-C(15 : 0), anteiso-C(15 : 0), C(16 : 1)omega5c, summed feature 3 (C(16 : 1)omega7c/iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH) and summed feature 4 (iso-C(17 : 1) I/anteiso-C(17 : 1) B). The five strains could be distinguished from each other and from the three established species of the genus Hymenobacter based on relatively low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities (<97 %), unique polar lipids and differing fatty acid profiles and physiological characteristics. In conclusion, the description of four novel species of the genus Hymenobacter appears to be justified, for which the names Hymenobacter norwichensis sp. nov. (type strain NS/50(T)=LMG 21876(T)=DSM 15439(T)), Hymenobacter chitinivorans sp. nov. (type strain Txc1(T)=LMG 21951(T)=DSM 11115(T)), Hymenobacter gelipurpurascens sp. nov. (type strain Txg1(T)=LMG 21874(T)=DSM [corrected][11116(T)) and Hymenobacter ocellatus sp. nov. (type strain Myx 2105(T)=Txo1(T)=LMG 21873(T)=DSM 11117(T)) are proposed. For strain NS/2, a description only is provided without proposal of a name because its status as a novel species was not demonstrated unambiguously.