Ratification vote on taxonomic proposals to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2015)

Changes to virus taxonomy approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses in February 2015 are listed. Changes to virus taxonomy (the Universal Scheme of Virus Classification of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses [ICTV]) now take place annually and are the result of a multi-stage process. In accordance with the ICTV Statutes, proposals submitted to the Executive Committee undergo a review process that involves input from the ICTV Study Groups (SGs) and Subcommittees (SCs), other interested virologists, and the ICTV Executive Committee. Reviewed proposals are then presented for ratification to the full ICTV membership by publication on an ICTV web site followed by an electronic vote. The latest list of approved proposals was prepared and presented on the ICTV online web pages by November 2014. This list of proposals was then sent via email on 20 January 2015 to the 146 members of ICTV, namely the ICTV Executive Committee Members, Life Members, ICTV Subcommittee Members and ICTV National Representatives. Members were then requested to vote on whether or not to ratify the taxonomic proposals (voting closed on 20 February 2015). This report lists the taxonomic proposals that were ratified by ICTV members. Note that by ICTV convention, all approved taxon names are italicized. The proposals are listed by Subcommittee, and then the file-name as posted on-line. For the first time, each proposal is formally cited so that a list of the authors appears in the References. This provides a means of acknowledging their efforts and also links to the specific proposal on the ICTV web site.