Proposal for Mollicutes as name of the class established for the order Mycoplasmatales

Abstract

The Report f r o m the subcommittee on Taxonomy of My-copiasmata (1) propose^, i. a,, the establishment of a separate new C l a s s for the O r d e r Mycoplasmatales. As stated i n paragraph '3' of the Report no final a g r e e-ment was reached by the Subcommittee on a n appropriate name f o r the new Class. However, in a working document produced f o r the Subcommittee by ,one of u s (E.A.F.) attention was called to the ordinal name Mollicutales, proposed in 1955 by Edward (2) as a possible alternative t o Mycoplae-matales. A name f o r the C l a s s based on the binary s t e m 'molli-cutis' was submitted for the consideration of the m e m b e r s of the Subcommittee: they e x p r e s s e d general approval and suggested that a euphonious and formally c o r r e c t name should be devised. As a r e s u l t of inquiries among e x p e r t s in this field it can be stated now that the name Mollicutes (Latin adjective mol-lis = soft, pliable, and Latin feminine noun cutie = skin) would be formally acceptable. In consequence, this name i s hereby proposed a s t h e n a m e of the new Class. By r e f e r r i n g t o the absence of a t r u e cell w a i l and the plasticity of the outer m e m b r a n e as a recognized fundamen-t a l property of the rnicroorganiams included in the C l a s s , the proposed name abides by the second alternative contained in Rule 2 of the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (3) that reads: 'The name of e a c h taxon above the rank of o r d e r is taken preferably from a combination of c h a r a c t e r s covering the nature of the taxon a s closely a s poesible, o r f r o m a single c h a r a c t e r of outstanding importance. I