The decision by the International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP) to place the rank of phylum under the rules of the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP), with phylum names ending in –ota based on the name of a type genus, enables the valid publication of the phylum name Cyanobacteriota with
Cyanobacterium
as the type genus. The names
Cyanobacterium
and its type species Cyanobacterium stanieri were effectively published in 1983 by Rippka and Cohen-Bazire, but the names were not validly published under the rules of the ICNP (then named the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria) or the rules of the ICN (International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, then named the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature). We here propose the names
Cyanobacterium
gen. nov and Cyanobacterium stanieri sp. nov. for valid publication under the provisions of the ICN. Upon validation these names are also validly published under the ICNP according to General Consideration 5 and Rule 30. We also propose the phylum name Cyanobacteriota phyl. nov. under the rules of the ICNP.