sp. nov. and sp. nov., isolated from the vehicle assembly building at Kennedy Space Center where the Viking spacecraft were assembled.

Two Gram-stain-positive, motile, endospore-forming, aerobic strains, designated V44-8 and V47-23a, were isolated from environmental air sampling at the vehicle assembly building at Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the Viking spacecraft were assembled. Growth was observed at pH 7-9 (optimum, pH 9) for strain V44-8, and pH 5-10 (pH 9) for strain V47-23a. Both strains displayed growth in 0-5 % NaCl with an optimum at 1 % for strain V44-8; 0 % for strain V47-23a. Strains V44-8 and V47-23a grew optimally at 32 °C, (15-32 °C) and 25 °C (20-45 °C), respectively. The cell wall of both strains contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid. Both strains contained phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and diphosphatidylglycerol. The predominant cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C, iso-C and iso-C. Strain V47.23a shared its highest 16S rRNA sequence similarity with DSM-105484 at 96.9%, and V44.8 with DSM-103964 at 96.6 %. Based on their phenotypic characteristics and phylogenetic position inferred from 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses, the isolates were identified as being a members of the genus that forms a separate clade when compared to close relatives. Average nucleotide identity and average amino acid identity values between strains V44-8 and DSM-103964 were 72.1% and 67.5 %; V47-23a and DSM-105484 were 62.4% and 69.1%, respectively. Based on the phenotypic, genomic and biochemical data, strains V44-8 and V47-23a represent two novel species in the genus for which the names sp. nov. [type strain, V44-8 (=ATCC BAA-2860 =DSM 105192)], and sp. nov. [V47-23a (=ATCC BAA-2861=DSM 105190)] are proposed.