Table 1. Classification and general features of M. limicola M3^T according to the MIGS recommendations [16] published by the Genomic Standards Consortium [17].

MIGS ID	Property	Term	Evidence code
	Current classification	Domain Bacteria	TAS [18]
		Phylum Euryarchaeota	TAS [19]
		Class Methanomicrobia	TAS [20]
		Order Methanomicrobiales	TAS [21-25]
		Family Methanomicrobiaceae	TAS [21,22]
		Genus Methanoplanus	TAS [1,2]
		Species Methanoplanus limicola	TAS [1,2]
		Type strain M3	TAS [1]
	Gram stain	negative	TAS [1]
	Cell shape	plate-like	TAS [1]
	Motility	weakly motile	TAS [1]
	Sporulation	not reported
	Temperature range	mesophile, 17-41°C	TAS [1]
	Optimum temperature	40°C	TAS [1]
	Salinity	0.4 - 5.4% NaCl (w/v), optimum 1.0%	TAS [5]
MIGS-22	Oxygen requirement	anaerobe	TAS [1]
	Carbon source	CO2, formate	TAS [1]
	Energy metabolism	methanogen, chemoorganotrophic	TAS [1]
MIGS-6	Habitat	swamps of fresh water and seawater	TAS [1]
MIGS-15	Biotic relationship	free living	TAS [1]
MIGS-14	Pathogenicity	none	NAS
	Biosafety level	1	TAS [26]
MIGS-23.1	Isolation	mud of drilling swamp	TAS [1]
MIGS-4	Geographic location	near Baia, Naples Area, Italy	TAS [1]
MIGS-5	Sample collection time	1981 or earlier	NAS
MIGS-4.1	Latitude	40.629	NAS
MIGS-4.2	Longitude	14.362	NAS
MIGS-4.3	Depth	not reported
MIGS-4.4	Altitude	not reported

Evidence codes - TAS: Traceable Author Statement (i.e., a direct report exists in the literature); NAS: Non-traceable Author Statement (i.e., not directly observed for the living, isolated sample, but based on a generally accepted property for the species, or anecdotal evidence). Evidence codes are from of the Gene Ontology project [27].