Likewise, Halostagnicola larsenii, Halostagnicola kamekurae, and Halostagnicola sp. A56 were co-located on a separate branch in the phylogenetic tree (Fig. 1). The ANI/AAI values between Hs. larsenii, the type species of the genus, and Hs. kamekurae and Halostagnicola sp. A56 were 87.16%/86.61% and 86.88%/86.84%, respectively. Therefore, the proposals that Halostagnicola is a novel genus (Castillo et al., 2006b), and that Hs. kamekurae is a novel species of this genus (Nagaoka et al., 2010), are valid. It is also likely that Halostagnicola sp. A56, whose ANI/AAI value with Hs. kamekurae was 92.10%/91.64%, represents a novel species that is yet to be characterized and named. Furthermore, Natronococcus occultus, Natronococcus amylolyticus, and Natronococcus jeotgali were co-located on a separate branch in the phylogenetic tree (Fig. 1). The ANI/AAI values between Nc. occultus, the type species of the genus, and Nc. amylolyticus and Nc. jeotgali were 85.82%/84.69% and 87.01%/84.22%, respectively. Hence, the proposals that Natronococcus is a novel genus (Tindall et al., 1984), and that Nc. amylolyticus and Nc. jeotgali are novel species of this genus (Kanal et al., 1995;Roh et al., 2007), are valid.
The genus Natrialba and a potentially novel genus within subclade 5AThe novel genus Natrialba containing a single species was proposed by Kamekura and Dyall-Smith (1995). Since then, the names of five species of Natrialba have been validly published. As of July 2019, the genome sequences of all six species of Natrialba have been sequenced, with Natrialba magadii ATCC 43099 T being sequenced twice (Table 1). Subclade 5A in the phylogenetic tree ( Fig. 1) contained two distinct branches, each having three species of Natrialba. The ANI/AAI value between Natrialba taiwanensis and Natrialba aegyptia was 94.83%/95.00%. Since the DNA-DNA hybridization level between Na. taiwanensis and Na.aegyptia was reported to be 66% (Hezayen et al., 2001), it is likely that these two species are very closely related. The DNA-DNA hybridization level between Natrialba asiatica, the type species of the genus, and Na. taiwanensis was reported to be 55.8% (Hezayen et al., 2001), indicating that they are two different species. This is supported by the fact that the ANI/AAI value between these archaea was 93.12%/92.95%. Furthermore, the ANI/AAI value between Natrialba chahannaoensis and Na. magadii was 88.84%/88.17%, the ANI/AAI value between Na. magadii and Natrialba hulunbeirensis was 89.40%/89.61%, and the ANI/AAI value between Na. chahannaoensis and Na. hulunbeirensis was 88.78%/89.90%. This result confirms the proposal by Xu et al. (2001) that Na. chahannaoensis and Na. hulunbeirensis are distinct from each other, and from Na. magadii.However, the ANI/AAI values between Na. asiatica and Na. chahannaoensis, Na. magadii, Na. hulunbeirensis, and Natrialba sp. SSL1 were 82.17%/76.00%, 82.58%/76.21%, 82.55%/76.30%, and 82.75%/75.75%. Interestingly, Hezayen et al. (2001) had reported that the 16S rDNA sequence similarity between Na. asiatica and N...