Pleomorphobacterium xiamenense Yin et al. 2013 is a later heterotypic synonym of Oceanicella actignis Albuquerque et al. 2012.

Pleomorphobacterium xiamenense CLWT was compared with Oceanicella actignis PRQ-67T to examine the taxonomic relationship between the two organisms. The 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison showed that the two strains had 99.9 % sequence similarity. Phylogenetic analysis showed the two strains formed an independent tight cluster, distinctly branching from the closely related species in the family Rhodobacteraceae. Whole genomic comparison between the two strains revealed a digital DNA-DNA hybridization estimate of 88.4 % and average nucleotide identity of 98.8 %, strongly supporting that the two strains represented a single species. In addition, neither strain displayed any striking difference in biochemical characteristics, fatty acid composition, and polar lipid profile. According to priority, Pleomorphobacterium xiamenense is reclassified as a later heterotypic synonym of Oceanicella actignis based on the phylogenetic relationship, whole genomic comparison, fatty acid composition and polar lipid profile, and other phenotypic and biochemical properties.