key: cord-0004856-ecfwqfss
authors: Adams, M. J.; Carstens, E. B.
title: Ratification vote on taxonomic proposals to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2012)
date: 2012-04-06
journal: Arch Virol
DOI: 10.1007/s00705-012-1299-6
sha: ba4ca13b4c965e95bbe898dbe793e613df5ea8ac
doc_id: 4856
cord_uid: ecfwqfss

nan

In accordance with the Statutes of the International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), the final stage in the process of making changes to the Universal Scheme of Virus Classification is the ratification of taxonomic proposals by ICTV members. This can occur either at a plenary meeting of ICTV, held during an International Congress of Virology conference, or by circulation of proposals by mail followed by a ballot. As in recent years, a list of proposals that had been subjected to the full, multistage review process was prepared and presented on the ICTVonline web pages by January 2012. This review process involved input from the ICTV study groups and subcommittees, other interested virologists, and the ICTV Executive Committee. These proposals were submitted to and discussed by the ICTV Executive Committee over the past two years and represent changes to virus taxonomy from that recently published in the Ninth Report [1] . The ratification process was performed entirely by email. The proposals were sent electronically via email on January 24 2012 to ICTV Executive Committee Members (18), Life Members (11), ICTV Subcommittee Members (105), and ICTV National Representatives (55). Members were then requested to vote on whether or not to ratify the taxonomic proposals, within a four-week deadline (voting closed on February 21, 2012).

The following are the taxonomic proposals that were ratified by ICTV members in February 2012. The proposals are organized by subcommittee, and then the filename posted on-line, which contained the specific information about the proposals. Note that by ICTV convention, all approved taxon names are italicized. The details of all these proposals can be obtained at http://www.ictvonline. org/Official_ICTV_Proposals.htm. The latest version of virus taxonomy, incorporating all the changes reported here, is now available on-line at the ICTV web site: http://ictvonline.org. 

Cyprinivirus-sp 2010.015aV create species Anguillid herpesvirus 1 in the genus Cyprinivirus, family Alloherpesviridae, order Herpesvirales 2010.016a-eV.A.v2.Scutavirus 2010.016aV create new genus within the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae, family Herpesviridae, order Herpesvirales 2010.016bV name the new genus Scutavirus 2010.016cV designate Chelonid herpesvirus 5 as type species in the new genus 2010.016dV remove species Chelonid herpesvirus 5 from its unassigned position in the subfamily Alphaherpesvirinae, family Herpesviridae 2010.016eV reassign the above species to the new genus 2010.017a-cV.A.v3.Avastrovirus 2010.017aV create 3 species named Avastrovirus 1, Avastrovirus 2 and Avastrovirus 3 in the genus Avastrovirus, family Astroviridae 2010.017bV remove (abolish) the species Chicken astrovirus

names of the following two species: Torque teno sus virus 1 to Torque teno sus virus 1a (genus Iotatorquevirus) and Torque teno sus virus 2 to Torque teno sus virus 1b (genus Iotatorquevirus) species named Lujo virus in genus Arenavirus

Aphthovirus-Sp 2011.016aV create species Bovine rhinitis A virus within the genus Aphthovirus, family Picornaviridae 2011.023aV.A.v1.Aviadenovirus-Sp 2011.023aV Create species Turkey adenovirus B in the genus Aviadenovirus

Bat adenovirus B and Murine adenovirus B, in the genus Mastadenovirus, family Adenoviridae 2011.025aV.A.v1.Siadenovirus-Sp 2011.025aV Create species Great tit adenovirus A in the genus Siadenovirus

Virus taxonomy. Ninth report of the international committee on taxonomy of viruses

All of the above taxonomic proposals were unanimously (or nearly unanimously) approved by the membership who voted. A number of suggestions were received during the voting process. These included requests to rationalize species demarcation criteria across virus families, to pay continued attention to clarity in naming new genera and to seek multiple species demarcation criteria so that new species are not created solely on the basis of a measure of nucleotide sequence identity. The ICTV continues to discuss these issues and welcomes comments on all taxonomic proposals as they are posted on the ICTV web site. The return rate of votes was approximately 48%. These taxonomic changes are now part of the official ICTV taxonomy and supplement the taxonomy presented in the Ninth ICTV Report published in 2011 [1] . An up-to-date list of all approved taxa can be found on the ICTV online web site.