Labrys wisconsinensis sp. nov., a budding bacterium isolated from Lake Michigan water, and emended description of the genus Labrys Two facultatively anaerobic, budding bacterial strains, designated W1215-PCA4 T and SRNK-1, were isolated from water from Lake Michigan, USA. The two strains showed identical ERIC-PCRgenerated genomic fingerprints and shared 99.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Strain W1215-PCA4 T showed highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to Labrys monachus VKM B-1479 T (95.8 %), Labrys methylaminiphilus DSM 16812 T (95.1 %), Labrys okinawensis MAFF 210191 T (96.0 %), Labrys miyagiensis G24103 T (95.4 %), Labrys neptuniae BCRC 17578 T (95.7 %) and Labrys portucalensis DSM 17916 T (95.8 %). Data suggested that the two strains were members of a single novel species of the genus Labrys. The major cellular fatty acids of the two isolates were C 18 : 1 v7c, C 19 : 0 cyclo v8c and C 16 : 0 . Their polar lipid profiles were highly similar to that of Labrys monachus DSM 5896 T . The primary quinone was ubiquinone Q-10, with minor amounts of Q-9 and Q-11. sym-Homospermidine was the predominant polyamine, with putrescine present in moderate amounts. The two strains were identical in terms of their biochemical and physiological traits, but were distinguishable from other species of the genus Labrys. Hence, the description of a novel species in this genus appears to be justified. The name Labrys wisconsinensis sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is W1215-PCA4 T (5DSM 19619 T 5NRRL B-51088 T ).