In order to reflect changes to
the International Code of Virus Classification and Nomenclature (ICVCN) made by
the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV),
NCBI taxonomy will introduce new binomial influenza species names like ‘Alphainfluenzavirus influenzae.’
Changes are expected to be in place near summer 2023.
Since the traditional influenza virus names like ‘Influenza A virus’ are broadly used,
to minimize the impact of this change, the taxonomy schema will keep the former names
in the lineages for each species;
however, they will be moved below the (new) species taxa in the hierarchy.
See example below.
Former lineages
Genus | Species |
---|---|
Alphainfluenzavirus | Influenza A virus |
Betainfluenzavirus | Influenza B virus |
Gammainfluenzavirus | Influenza C virus |
Deltainfluenzavirus | Influenza D virus |
New lineages
Genus | Species | Below species |
---|---|---|
Alphainfluenzavirus | Alphainfluenzavirus influenzae | Influenza A virus |
Betainfluenzavirus | Betainfluenzavirus influenzae | Influenza B virus |
Gammainfluenzavirus | Gammainfluenzavirus influenzae | Influenza C virus |
Deltainfluenzavirus | Deltainfluenzavirus influenzae | Influenza D virus |
See Upcoming changes to influenza virus names in NCBI Taxonomy for details.