Useful website

The ICSP, formerly the International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology (ICSB), is the body that oversees the nomenclature of prokaryotes, determines the rules by which prokaryotes are named and whose Judicial Commission issues Opinions concerning taxonomic matters, revisions to the Bacteriological Code, etc.

In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, bacteriologists tried to follow the provisions of the Botanical Code of Nomenclature, because bacteria had traditionally been considered fungi, the Schizomycetes. Methods of study were, however, very different. Also, much emphasis had to be put on cultural characteristics, so that type cultures were of critical importance. Type cultures are not permitted under the Botanical Code; therefore, at the First International Congress of Microbiology in Paris in 1930, proposals were made for bacteriology to establish its own Code of Nomenclature. A committee under the able guidance of the American bacteriologist R. E. Buchanan began work on this and, at the Second Congress in London in 1936, a draft Code was presented and placed under the aegis of the International Committee for Bacteriological Nomenclature [later, the International Committee on Systematic Bacteriology (ICSB), and now, the ICSP]. Buchanan condensed the provisions for nomenclature into a few broad principles that are still valid today.

ICSP is a committee under the Bacteriology and Applied Microbiology Division of the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS). In May 2019 an extensive revision of the statutes of the ICSP has been approved.

The Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase BacDive is the worldwide largest database for standardized bacterial phenotypic information. Its mission is to mobilize research data on strain level from internal files in culture collections (e.g. CABI, CIP, CCUG, DSMZ) as well as from primary literature and make it freely accessible. Today BacDive offers data on 81,827 bacterial and archaeal strains, including 14,091 type strains and thereby covers approx. 90% of the validly described species. Within over 600 data fields the topics taxonomy, morphology, physiology, origin, molecular data, and cultivation conditions are covered. The database offers systematic access to phenotypic data. BacDive thereby enables queries like "show me all strains that grow under certain conditions” by using the Advanced search or queries like “show me all strains isolated from a marine environment” by using the Isolation source search. With currently 15,357 API® tests for 27,634 strains, BacDive also offers the worldwide largest API® test collection, which can be queried using the API test finder tool.

A website by Dr. David Malloch. Dr. Malloch is a Research Associate of the New Brunswick Museum, which is proud to link to these informative and engaging pages. He is also an emeritus professor at the University of Toronto and a distinguished mycologist. The Mycology Web Pages were created in celebration of the astounding diversity of fungi and our unending fascination with them. Several approaches to the subject are taken here, and these are presented as separate but extensively interlinked web projects. Great resource to identify fungi according to picture keys (CLICK HERE)

Regnum Prokaryotae site, Antibiogram Test Interpreter and ABIS online software are noncommercial products created for public use.