Conservation of Rhodococcus equi (Magnusson 1923) Goodfellow and Alderson 1977 and rejection of Corynebacterium hoagii (Morse 1912) Eberson 1918.

A recent review of the nomenclatural history of Rhodococcus equi and its heterotypic synonyms reveals a situation in which the strict application of the Rules of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes have resulted in the renaming of this known zoonotic pathogen, which may be reasonably viewed as a perilous name. This situation can be remedied only by the Judicial Commission rendering an opinion to conserve the name Rhodococcus equi and to reject its earlier heterotypic synonym, Corynebacterium hoagii.