Two Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-motile bacterial strains, 36D10-4-7T and 30C10-4-7T, were isolated from bark canker tissue of Populus × euramericana, respectively. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain 36D10-4-7T shows 98.0 % sequence similarity to
Sphingomonas adhaesiva
DSM 7418T, and strain 30C10-4-7T shows highest sequence similarity to
Sphingobacterium arenae
H-12T (95.6 %). Average nucleotide identity analysis indicates that strain 36D10-4-7T is a novel member different from recognized species in the genus
Sphingomonas
. The main fatty acids and respiratory quinone detected in strain 36D10-4-7T are C18 : 1
ω7c and/or C18 : 1
ω6c and Q-10, respectively. The polar lipids are diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol, aminolipid, phosphatidylethanolamine, sphingoglycolipid, two uncharacterized phospholipids and two uncharacterized lipids. For strain 30C10-4-7T, the major fatty acids and menaquinone are iso-C15 : 0, C16 : 1
ω7c and/or C16 : 1
ω6c and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and MK-7, respectively. The polar lipid profile includes phosphatidylethanolamine, phospholipids, two aminophospholipids and six unidentified lipids. Based on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, these two strains represent two novel species within the genera
Sphingomonas
and
Sphingobacterium
. The name Sphingomonas corticis sp. nov. (type strain 36D10-4-7T=CFCC 13112T=KCTC 52799T) and Sphingobacterium corticibacterium sp. nov. (type strain 30C10-4-7T=CFCC 13069T=KCTC 52797T) are proposed.