In its November editorial, Nature Reviews Microbiology (6, 794; 2008) reports that the archive of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM_) has been made available free online: a boon for scientists, historians and the public. As outlined on Nautilusarchiv.html, the value of systematics is often underappreciated for bacteria and viruses. These are the most populous organisms on Earth, although more than 99% of bacteria have yet to be cultivated.
Naming and characterizing different species of bacteria, and the investigation of the relationships between them, is an important adjunct to genomics-based approaches, which are producing ever-increasing estimates of the numbers and types of these organisms.
Jean Euzeby, the IJSEM list editor, maintains a web resource that details all those species that have been ratified by an international committee. Links to this and other useful resources and websites are provided in the Nautilus post.
Nature 456, xiii; 13 November 2008.