A Gram-negative, aerobic, non-motile, dark brown-coloured and rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated G-MB1(T), was isolated from a tidal flat sediment of the South Sea, South Korea. Strain G-MB1(T) was found to grow optimally at 25 �XC, at pH 7.0-8.0 and in the presence of 2.0 % (w/v) NaCl. A neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain G-MB1(T) fell within the clade comprising Thalassomonas species, clustering with the type strains of Thalassomonas agarivorans, Thalassomonas loyana, Thalassomonas ganghwensis and Thalassomonas agariperforans, with which it exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of 96.0-96.9 %. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values between strain G-MB1(T) and the type strains of the other Thalassomonas species were 94.6-95.1 %. Strain G-MB1(T) was found to contain Q-8 as the predominant ubiquinone and C16:0, C17:1 �s8c, C16:1 �s9c, C12:0 3-OH and summed feature 3 (C16:1 �s7c and/or C16:1 �s6c) as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids of strain G-MB1(T) were phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and one unidentified aminolipid. The DNA G+C content of strain G-MB1(T) was determined to be 42.4 mol%. Differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic distinctiveness, revealed that strain G-MB1(T) is separated from other Thalassomonas species. On the basis of the data presented, strain G-MB1(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Thalassomonas, for which the name Thalassomonas fusca sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is G-MB1(T) (=KCTC 32499(T) = NBRC 109830(T)).

A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-flagellated and rod-shaped or ovoid bacterial strain, designated GJSW-36(T), was isolated from seawater at Geoje island in the South Sea, South Korea. Strain GJSW-36(T) grew optimally at pH 7.0-8.0, at 25 �XC and in the presence of 2% (w/v) NaCl. A neighbour-joining phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain GJSW-36(T) fell within the clade comprising the type strains of species of the genus Thalassotalea and Thalassomonas fusca. Strain GJSW-36(T) exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values of 94.2-96.0% to the type strains of species of the genus Thalassotalea and Thalassomonas fusca and of 93.8-94.5% to the type strains of the other species of the genus Thalassomonas. Strain GJSW-36(T) contained ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) as the predominant ubiquinone and summed feature 3 (C(16:1)�s7c and/or C(16:1)�s6c), C(1:1)�s8c and C(16:0) as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids of strain GJSW-36(T) were phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The DNA G+C content of strain GJSW-36(T) was 45.1 mol%. Differential phenotypic properties, together with the phylogenetic distinctiveness, demonstrated that strain GJSW-36(T) is separated from species of the genus Thalassotalea and Thalassomonas fusca. On the basis of the data presented, strain GJSW-36(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Thalassotalea, for which the name Thalassotalea ponticola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is GJSW-36(T) (=KCTC 42155(T) =CECT 8656(T)). From this study, it is also proposed that Thalassomonas fusca should be reclassified as a member of the genus Thalassotalea and the description of the genus Thalassotalea is emended.