Aristophania vespae gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from wasps, is related to Bombella and Oecophyllibacter , isolated from bees and ants.

Acetic acid bacteria (family ) are found in the gut of most insects. Two clades are currently recognized: and a-. The latter group is only found in hymenopteran insects and the described species have been isolated from bees and ants. In this study, two new strains DDB2-T1 (=KACC 21507=LMG 31759) and DM15PD (=CCM 9165=DSM 112731=KACC 22353=LMG 32454) were isolated from wasps collected in the Republic of Korea and Germany, respectively. Molecular and phenotypic analysis revealed that the strains are closely related, with 16S rRNA gene sequences showing 100 % identity and genomic average nucleotide identity (ANI) values ≥99 %. The closest related species based on type strain 16S rRNA gene sequences are , , and (94.8-94.7% identity), whereas the closest related species based on type strain genome analysis are and (ANI values of 68.8 and 68.2 %, respectively). The reconstruction of a phylogenomic tree based on 107 core proteins revealed that the branch leading to DDB2-T1 and DM15PD is localized between and . Further genomic distance metrics such as ANI, percentage of conserved proteins and alignment fraction values were consistent with these strains belonging to a new genus. The key phenotypic characteristics were one MALDI-TOF-MS peak (m/z=4601.9±2.0) and the ability to produce acid from d-arabinose. Based on this polyphasic approach, including phylogenetics, phylogenomics, genome distance calculations, ecology and phenotypic characteristics, we propose to name the novel strains gen. nov., sp. nov., with the type strain DDB2-T1 (=KACC 21507=LMG 31759).