Apibacter raozihei sp. nov. isolated from bat feces of Hipposideros and Taphozous spp

Strains HY041T and HY039 were oxidase- and Gram-stain-negative, catalase-positive, rod-shaped, non-motile, and facultatively anaerobic bacteria. They were isolated from the feces of bats of the Hipposideros and Taphozous spp. collected from Chongqing City and Guangxi province (PR China), respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene and 463 core genes indicated that HY041T and HY039 represent members of the genus Apibacter , forming a clade with Apibacter adventoris wkB301T (95.2 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity) and Apibacter mensalis R-53146T (94.0 %). In silico DNA–DNA hybridization ( is DDH) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values of our isolates with the most closely related species were lower than the 70 % and 95–96 % threshold, respectively, in contrast to values above these two thresholds (isDDH value: 89.1 %; ANI value: 98.5 %) between strains HY041T and HY039. The novel isolates could grow on nutrient and MacConkey agar. HY041T and HY039 could produce β-galactosidase and N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase, and utilize d-adonitol, d-mannose, gentiobiose, glucose and salicin. The major fatty acids (>10.0 %) of HY041T were iso-C17 : 0 3OH, iso-C15 : 0, C16 : 0, summed feature 9 (C16 : 0 10-methyl and/or iso-C17 : 1ω9c) and C16 : 0 3OH. Polar lipids included phosphatidylethanolamine, glycolipid, two unidentified aminolipids and four unidentified lipids. Menaquinone 6 (MK-6) was the sole respiratory quinone. On the basis of all analyses so far, strains HY041T and HY039 represent a novel species of the genus Apibacter , for which the name Apibacter raozihei sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HY041T (=CGMCC 1.16567T=JCM 33423T) with a genomic DNA G+C content of 32.2 mol%.