Family: Herelleviridae

Genus: Harbinvirus

Distinguishing features

The genus Harbinvirus was originally misplaced in the subfamily Twortvirinae; the Taxonomic Proposal 2020.072B.R (ictv.global/taxonomy/taxondetails?taxnode_id=202107399) has changed its status to an orphan genus in the family. Genomes of known members fall in the range of 135–145 kbp. Lactobacillus phage Lpa804, the exemplar isolate of the species Harbinvirus Lpa804, has a genome of 142 567 bp. Members of the genus infect Lactobacillus plantarum.

Species demarcation criteria

Members of the same species are more than 95% identical in genome nucleotide sequence, including the terminal repeat region. Phages with genomes that differ by more than 5% are assigned to different species.