RNA viruses are ubiquitous in the environment and are important pathogens of humans, animals and plants. In 2024, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses Animal dsRNA and ssRNA(-) Viruses Subcommittee submitted 18 taxonomic proposals for consideration. These proposals expanded the known virosphere by classifying 9 new genera and 88 species for newly detected virus genomes. Of note, newly established species expand the large family of Rhabdoviridae to 580 species. A new species in the family Arenaviridae includes a virus detected in Antarctic fish with a unique split nucleoprotein ORF. Additionally, four new species were established for historically isolated viruses with previously unsequenced genomes. Furthermore, three species were abolished due to incomplete genome sequence information, and one family was moved from being unassigned in the phylum Negarnaviricota into a subphylum and order. Herein, we summarize the 18 ratified taxonomic proposals and the general features of the current taxonomy, thereby supporting public and animal health responses.

Animal and Plant Health Agency Surrey UK

Biological Sciences Mississippi State University Mississippi State USA

Center for Infection and Immunity and Department of Epidemiology Mailman School of Public Health Columbia University New York USA

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Fort Collins USA

College of Medicine Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences Dubai Health Dubai UAE

Computational Biology Branch Division of Intramural Research National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health Bethesda Maryland USA

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas Buenos Aires Argentina

CSIRO Health and Biosecurity Geelong Australia

Department of Biological Sciences and Pathobiology University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Vienna Austria

Department of Biological Sciences University of Arkansas Fayetteville USA

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis USA

Department of Microbiology and Immunology University of Otago Dunedin New Zealand

Department of Microbiology Immunology and Molecular Genetics University of Kentucky Lexington USA

Department of Natural Sciences Shawnee State University Portsmouth USA

Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences Royal Veterinary College London UK

Department of Pathology The University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston TX USA

Department of Virology University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland

Division of Clinical and Epidemiological Virology KU Leuven Leuven Belgium

Embrapa Cassava and Fruits Cruz das Almas BA Brazil

German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment Berlin Germany

Graduate School of Veterinary Science Osaka Metropolitan University Izumisano Osaka Japan

Institut Pasteur Conakry Guinée

Institut Pasteur Université Paris Cité CNRS UMR6047 Archaeal Virology Unit Paris France

Institute of Diagnostic Virology Friedrich Loeffler Institut Greifswald Riems Germany

Institute of Insect Sciences Zhejiang University Hangzhou PR China

Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Baltimore Maryland USA

Institute of Plant Science and Resources Okayama University Kurashiki 710 0046 Japan

Institute of Plant Virology Ningbo University Ningbo PR China

Instituto Conmemorativo Gorgas de Estudios de la Salud Panama City Panama

Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Virales Humanas Dr Julio 1 Maiztegui INEVH ANLIS Monteagudo 2510 Pergamino 2700 Argentina

Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria Buenos Aires Argentina

Integrated Group of Aquaculture and Environmental Studies Federal University of Paraná Curitiba Paraná Brazil

Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases National Institutes of Health Fort Detrick Frederick MD USA

National Genomics Data Center China National Center for Bioinformation; Beijing Institute of Genomics Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing PR China

North Carolina State University Raleigh NC USA

Osaka International Research Center for Infectious Diseases Osaka Metropolitan University Osaka Japan

Paul G Allen School for Global Health Washington State University Pullman USA

Pharmaq Analytiq Bergen Norway

QAAFI The University of Queensland St Lucia Australia

Robert Koch Institut Berlin Germany

School of Veterinary Medicine Murdoch University Murdoch WA Australia

Universidade Federal do Pará Bélem Brazil

University of Ostrava Ostrava Czechia

University of Queensland St Lucia Australia

Viral Special Pathogens Branch The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1600 Clifton Rd Atlanta GA 30329 USA

Wuhan Institute of Virology Chinese Academy of Sciences Wuhan PR China

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Summary of taxonomy changes ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses from the Plant Viruses Subcommittee, 2025

Summary of taxonomy changes ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) from the Fungal and Protist Viruses Subcommittee, 2025