A new coagulase-negative species of the genus Staphylococcus, Staphylococcus muscae, is described on the basis of the results of a study of four strains that were isolated from flies. 16s rRNA sequences of the type strains of S . muscae, Staphylococcus schleiferi, and staphylococcus sciuri were determined and used, together with the corresponding sequences of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, for a comparative analysis. The new species is characterized taxonomically; this species is differentiated from the other novobiocin-susceptible staphylococci by its physiological and biochemical activities, cell wall composition, and levels of genetic relatedness. The type strain of this species is strain MB4 (= CCM 4175). (5,11,21,26). Most of the new species were isolated from animals; the exceptions were S . lugdunensis and S. schleiferi, which were isolated from humans. The descriptions of all 28 Staphylococcus species were based on studies of strains that were isolated from mammals, birds, and foodstuffs of animal origin.In this paper, we describe a new coagulase-negative species of staphylococci that was obtained from the body surfaces of flies. These organisms were found in about 7% of the flies caught in certain cow sheds but not on flies caught in human dwellings, stables, or piggeries (7). For this reason, this bacterium should be regarded as a transient rather than a resident on flies.In this report we present phenetic and molecular taxonomic data for a new species, Staphylococcus muscae.
MATERIALS AND METHODSBacterial strains. Four strains were isolated from flies trapped in cow sheds; strains MB4T, (T = type strain), MB21, and MB50 were isolated from Stomoxys calcitrans, and strain MB30 was isolated from Musca domestica (7). The medium used for isolation was blood agar base no. 2 (Oxoid) supplemented with 5% defibrinated ovine blood. Nutrient agar (Oxoid) containing glucose (2%, wt/vol) and P agar (15) were used to propagate all of the isolates. Inocula for tests were prepared from 1-day cultures that were incubated at 37°C. All strains were stored as frozen suspensions in glycerol broth at -25°C (10) and also in a freezedried state.Methods. The procedures used for determining morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics have been described elsewhere (6). The type strains of the 14 novobiocin-susceptible Staphylococcus species (see Table 2) * Corresponding author.
97were obtained from the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen (DSM), Braunschweig, Germany, the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), Rockville, Md., and the Czechoslovak Collection of Microorganisms (CCM), Brno, Czechoslovakia.Phage typing was carried out by using the method of Blair and Williams (1). We used 24 phages (25) for human Staphylococcus aureus strains, 12 phages (24) for bovine S. aureus strains, 4 experimental phages (2) for Staphylococcus intermedius strains, and 4 phages (9) for Staphylococcus hyicus strains.We used the methods described by Schleifer and Kandler (20) and Schleifer (18) for cel...