: A New Species Isolated from the Ocular Surface of Healthy Horses.

Twenty-two unidentified Gram-positive, rod-shaped organisms were recovered from the conjunctival surface of apparently healthy horses and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic analysis. Based on cellular morphology and biochemical criteria, the isolates were tentatively assigned to the genus , although they did not match any recognized species. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequencing studies demonstrated that all of the isolates were phylogenetically members of the genus The isolates shared 99.4 to 100% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity among the strains and 96.5% similarity with 2385/12, which was the closest phylogenetically related species. The DNA G+C content was 58.4 mol%. The major fatty acids were C, C, C and C , while the predominant mycolic acids consisted of C, C and C. The isolates were distinguished from related species by a number of phenotypic properties. On the basis of phenotypic and phylogenetic evidence, it is proposed that the unknown isolates from horses be classified in the genus as sp. nov. The type strain of is ICM19-01138 (DSM 109759 = CCUG 73728).