Evansella

Evansella is a genus of Gram-positive rod-shaped bacteria in the family Bacillaceae within the order Bacillales. The type species for this genus is Evansella cellulosilytica.

Members of Evansella was transferred from the genus Bacillus, a genus that has long been under close scrutiny by the scientific community due to its inclusion of many phylogenetically unrelated species. The original criteria used to assign species into Bacillus were vague and applied to many different species of bacteria, resulting in a large genus full of unrelated organisms with a diverse range of biochemical characteristics. To clarify the taxonomic relationships within the genus, multiple phylogenetic studies have been conducted, resulting in the transfer of many species into novel genera such as Virgibacillus, Solibacillus, Brevibacillus and Ectobacillus. Additionally, Bacillus has been restricted only include species closely related to Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus cereus.

The name Evansella is chosen to celebrate the American microbiologist Dr. Alice Catherine Evans (1885-1975, US Department of Agriculture) in recognition of her contributions to the field of bacteriology.