Listeria marthii is a species of bacteria. It is a Gram-positive, motile, facultatively anaerobic, non-spore-forming bacillus. It is non-pathogenic, and non-hemolytic. The species was first isolated from Finger Lakes National Forest in New York. It is named after Elmer H. Marth, a researcher of L. monocytogenes, and was first published in 2010. L. marthii was the first new species of Listeria proposed since 1985.[1]
Listeria marthii has mainly been isolated from a specific area in the Finger Lakes National Forest. However, L. marthii strains may be mischaracterized as L. innocua due to biochemical similarities between the two species.[2]
Sauders, Brian D., et al. "Diversity of Listeria species in urban and natural environments." Applied and Environmental Microbiology 78.12 (2012): 4420–4433.