Genome-wide and constrained ordination-based analyses of EC code data support reclassification of the species of Massilia La Scola et al. 2000 into Telluria Bowman et al. 1993, Mokoshia gen. nov. and Zemynaea gen. nov
Based on genome-wide data,
Massilia
species belonging to the clade including
Telluria mixta
LMG 11547T should be entirely transferred to the genus
Telluria
owing to the nomenclatural priority of the type species
Telluria mixta
. This results in the transfer of 35
Massilia
species to the genus
Telluria
. The presented data also supports the creation of two new genera since peripherally branching
Massilia
species are distinct from
Telluria
and other related genera. It is proposed that 13
Massilia
species are transferred to Mokoshia gen. nov. with the type species designated Mokoshia eurypsychrophila comb. nov. The species
Massilia arenosa
is proposed to belong to the genus Zemynaea gen. nov. as the type species Zemynaea arenosa comb. nov. The genome-wide analysis was well supported by canonical ordination analysis of Enzyme Commission (EC) codes annotated from genomes via pannzer2. This new approach was performed to assess the conclusions of the genome-based data and reduce possible ambiguity in the taxonomic decision making. Cross-validation of EC code data compared within canonical plots validated the reclassifications and correctly visualized the expected genus-level taxonomic relationships. The approach is complementary to genome-wide methodology and could be used for testing sequence alignment based data across genetically related genera. In addition to the proposed broader reclassifications, invalidly described species ‘Massilia antibiotica’, ‘Massilia aromaticivorans’, ‘Massilia cellulosiltytica’ and ‘
Massilia humi
’ are described as Telluria antibiotica sp. nov., Telluria aromaticivorans sp. nov., Telluria cellulosilytica sp. nov. and Pseudoduganella humi sp. nov., respectively. In addition,
Telluria chitinolytica
is reclassified as Pseudoduganella chitinolytica comb. nov. The use of combined genome-wide and annotation descriptors compared using canonical ordination clarifies the taxonomy of
Telluria
and its sibling genera and provides another way to evaluate complex taxonomic data.