Genome-based studies indicate that the Clade B strains belong to species and lack of the hospital infection associated markers.

and the heterotypic synonym from dairy origin have recently been identified as a novel species based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. type strain NCTC 7171 was used as the reference genome for determining and to be separate species. However, this taxonomic classification did not consider the diverse lineages of , and the double nature of hospital-associated (clade A) and community-associated (clade B) isolates. Here, we investigated the taxonomic relationship among isolates of of different origins and , using a genome-based approach. Additional to 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, we estimated the relatedness among strains and species using phylogenomics based on the core pangenome, multilocus sequence typing, the average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization. Moreover, following the available safety assessment schemes, we evaluated the virulence profile and the ampicillin resistance of and clade B strains. Our results confirmed the genetic and evolutionary differences between clade A and the intertwined clade B and group. We also confirmed the absence in these strains of virulence gene markers and and the lack of the PBP5 allelic profile associated with ampicillin resistance. Taken together, our findings support the reassignment of the strains of clade B as .