The discovery of MRSA encoding the mecA variant mecC from dairy cattle and humans, 1 and then subsequently from a diverse range of other host species, 2,3 has raised questions over the origin and epidemiology of this resistance determinant. In addition to Staphylococcus aureus, mecC has been described in other staphylococci, namely Staphylococcus xylosus, 4 Staphylococcus sciuri, 5 Staphylococcus stepanovicii, 6,7 Staphylococcus saprophyticus 8,9 and Staphylococcus edaphicus, 10 all of which are methicillin resistant with the exception of S. xylosus. The mecC of S. aureus is encoded within an SCCmec type XI element, carrying a class E mec gene complex associated with the genes ccrA1 and ccrB3, corresponding to a type 8 ccr gene complex. 11 This is not the situation in the other mecC-positive staphylococci reported to date. In these species, although mecC is part of a conserved class E mec gene complex inserted into the orfX region, the neighbouring sequences vary considerably between the different species with little homology to SCCmec type XI or any other known SCCmec type and do not always contain ccr gene complexes. 4-6,10 Herein we describe an S. xylosus isolate, 47-83, from bulk tank milk collected in Sussex, England in 2013, which encodes mecC within a highly conserved SCCmec type XI. The isolate was found during the screening of bulk tank milk for MRSA, as described previously. 12 It grew on MRSA Brilliance MRSA 2 agar (Oxoid, Basingstoke, UK) and was resistant to oxacillin and cefoxitin by disc diffusion. Susceptibility testing of 47-83 using the VITEK 2 card AST-P634 found it to be susceptible to chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, daptomycin, erythromycin, gentamicin, linezolid, mupirocin, rifampicin, teicoplanin, tetracycline, tigecycline, trimethoprim and vancomycin,