Whole genome sequences reveal the presence of 11 heterotypic synonyms in the genus Sphingobium and emended descriptions of Sphingobium indicum, Sphingobium fuliginis, Sphingobium xenophagum and Sphingobium cupriresistens.

Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences of the genus Sphingobium showed the presence of four distinguishable clusters, in each of which the species shared almost the same evolutionary distance. They were Sphingobium indicum, Sphinogbium lucknowense, Sphinogbium chinhatense, Sphinogbium francense and Sphinogbium japonicum in cluster I, Sphinogbium barthaii and Sphinogbium fuliginis in cluster II, Sphinogbium hydrophobicum and Sphinogbium xenophagum in cluster III and Sphinogbium czechense and Sphinogbium cupriresistens in cluster IV. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities between the species in each cluster were all higher than 98 %. Genome-based average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) relatedness values between the species of each cluster were all higher than the threshold values of 95-96 % ANI and 70 % dDDH for species discrimination, respectively, suggesting that each cluster represents only one species of the genus Sphingobium. Due to priority of publication, S. lucknowense, S. chinhatense, S. francense and S. japonicum should be taken as later heterotypic synonyms of S. indicum, S. barthaii as a later heterotypic synonym of S. fuliginis, S. hydrophobicum as a later heterotypic synonym of S. xenophagum and S. czechense as a later heterotypic synonym of S. cupriresistens. Correspondingly, the descriptions of S. indicum, S. fuliginis, S. xenophagum and S. cupriresistens are also emended based on this study.