Phylogenetic classification of six novel species belonging to the genus Bifidobacterium comprising Bifidobacterium anseris sp. nov., Bifidobacterium criceti sp. nov., Bifidobacterium imperatoris sp. nov., Bifidobacterium italicum sp. nov., Bifidobacterium

Six Bifidobacterium strains, i.e., Goo31D, Ham19E, Rab10A, Tam1G, Uis4E and Uis1B, were isolated from domestic goose (Anser domesticus), European hamster (Cricetus cricetus), European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), emperor tamarin (Saguinus imperator) and pygmy marmoset (Callithrix pygmaea). Cells are Gram-positive, non-motile, non-sporulating, facultative anaerobic and fructose 6-phosphate phosphoketolase-positive. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA, ITS-, multilocus- sequences and the core genome revealed that bifidobacterial strains Goo31D, Ham19E, Rab10A, Tam1G, Uis4E and Uis1B exhibit close phylogenetic relatedness with Bifidobacterium choerinum LMG 10510, Bifidobacterium hapali DSM 100202, Bifidobacterium saguini DSM 23967 and Bifidobacterium stellenboschense DSM 23968. Genotyping based on the genome sequence of the isolated strains combined with phenotypic analyses, clearly show that these strains are distinct from each of the type strains of the so far recognized Bifidobacterium species. Thus, Bifidobacterium anseris sp. nov. (Goo31D = LMG 30189T = CCUG 70960T), Bifidobacterium criceti sp. nov. (Ham19E = LMG 30188T = CCUG 70962T), Bifidobacterium imperatoris sp. nov. (Tam1G = LMG 30297T = CCUG 70961T), Bifidobacterium italicum sp. nov. (Rab10A = LMG 30187T = CCUG 70963T), Bifidobacterium margollesii sp. nov. (Uis1B = LMG 30296T = CCUG 70959T) and Bifidobacterium parmae sp. nov. (Uis4E = LMG 30295T = CCUG 70964T) are proposed as novel Bifidobacterium species.