Two culture collection strains, CCM 168 and CCM 1405, previously assigned to the genus Micrococcus were shown by molecular chemical characterization to belong to the genus Salinicucczu, A more detailed comparison of the physiological and biochemical properties of these strains and comparison with the type strain of Sulinicoccus roseus indicated high degrees of relatedness among the three strains. DNA-DNA hybridization studies confirmed the high degrees of relatedness. All of the data demonstrate quite clearly that strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 are members of the species S. roseus.The red-pigmented, moderately halophilic strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 were isolated originally from a salted hide and salted meat, respectively (14,17). These organisms were initially considered strains of Micrococcus roseus, but Bohacek et al. (1) found that the guanine-plus-cytosine (G+C) content of their DNAs was 49.4 mol%, a value significantly lower than the G+C contents of members of the genus Micrococcus (8). Schleifer and Kandler (19) also reported that strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 contained murein of the L-Lys-Gly,-L-Ala type. Taken together, these data are not in agreement with the current concept of members of the genus Micrococcus (8). In view of the fact that the results of a study of the molecular chemical properties of a microorganism may support the phylogenetic position of a strain, thus permitting an organism to be assigned to or excluded from groupings determined by 16s rRNA analysis, a study of the respiratory lipoquinones, fatty acids, polar lipids, and murein structure of strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 was undertaken. It has previously been shown by a combination of chemical and molecular genetic methods that Salinicoccus roseus is phylogenetically distantly related to the staphylococci (21) and that Marinococcus hispanicus is a member of the genus Salinicoccus on the basis of chemical data (23). The results presented here quite clearly demonstrated that isolates CCM 168 and CCM 1405 are also members of the genus Salinicoccus.In the absence of comprehensive comparative data for CCM 168, CCM 1405, and members of the genus Salinicoccus, a more detailed physiological and biochemical characterization of these organisms was carried out. In addition, DNA-DNA hybridization experiments were carried out to examine the relatedness of strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 to each other, as well as to members of the genus Salinicoccus and other gram-positive moderately halophilic cocci. The results presented here indicate unequivocally that not only do strains CCM 168 and CCM 1405 belong to the genus Salinicoccus, but they may also be considered isolates of the species Salinicoccus roseus, whose description was based on characterization of a single strain (22).* Corresponding author. MATERIALS AND METHODSOrganisms and growth conditions. Strain CCM 168, originally isolated from salted horse hide (14), and strain CCM 1405, isolated from salted meat (17), were obtained from the Czechoslovak Collection of Microorganisms, Brno, Czechoslovakia...