Evolution and devolution of minimal standards for descriptions of species of the class Mollicutes: analysis of two Spiroplasma descriptions

In 1966, the newly formed International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology (ICSB) Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Mycoplasmatales [now the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP) Subcommittee on the taxonomy of Mollicutes], concerned with the absence of published standards for descriptions of ‘mycoplasmas’ (now mollicutes) and fearful that ‘chaos’ could ensue in the absence of such standards, set forth some general guidelines for species descriptions (Edward et al., 1967). In 1972, these guidelines were updated and were presented as a formal proposal for description of species of Mycoplasmatales (ICSB Subcommittee, 1972). The guidelines were later amended and updated (ICSB Subcommittee, 1979, 1995). The high desirability of minimal standards has been recognized in recent discussions of the bacterial species concept (Stackebrandt et al., 2002; Kämpfer et al., 2003).