Classification of Leptospira genomospecies 1, 3, 4 and 5 as Leptospira alstonii sp. nov., Leptospira vanthielii sp. nov., Leptospira terpstrae sp. nov. and Leptospira yanagawae sp. nov., respectively

The genus Leptospira currently comprises 16 named species. In addition, four unnamed hybridization groups were designated Leptospira genomospecies 1, 3, 4 and 5. These groups represent valid species-level taxa, but were not assigned names in the original description by Brenner et al. [Int J Syst Bacteriol 49, 839-858 (1999)]. To rectify this situation, it is proposed that Leptospira genomospecies 1, genomospecies 3, genomospecies 4 and genomospecies 5 should be classified as Leptospira alstonii sp. nov., Leptospira vanthielii sp. nov., Leptospira terpstrae sp. nov. and Leptospira yanagawae sp. nov., respectively, with strains L. alstonii 79601(T) ( = ATCC BAA-2439(T)), L. vanthielii WaZ Holland(T) ( = ATCC 700522(T)), L. terpstrae LT 11-33(T) ( = ATCC 700639(T)) and L. yanagawae Sao Paulo(T) ( = ATCC 700523(T)) as the type strains. The type strains are also available from the culture collections of the WHO Collaborating Centres in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and Brisbane, Australia.