title: Mycolicibacter hiberniae
text: # Mycolicibacter hiberniae
  
  Mycolicibacter hiberniae (formerly Mycobacterium hiberniae) is a species of bacteria in the phylum Actinomycetota.
  
  Etymology Hibernia, Latin for Ireland where it was first isolated.
  
  ## Description
  
  Polymorphic, beaded, gram-positive, nonmotile and acid-fast rods (0.9 µm × 1.2–1.5 µm).
  
  Colony characteristics
  
  * Smooth and glistening colonies with rose-pink pigmentation but become rough and dry later. Colonies with unique pigment production are 1-1.5 mm in diameter.
  
  Physiology
  
  * Slow growth on Löwenstein-Jensen medium and Middlebrook 7H10 agar at 37 °C (range: 22-37 °C). No growth at 42 °C.
  * Resistant to isoniazid, rifampin, and streptomycin
  * Sensitive to ethambutol.
  
  Differential characteristics
  
  * M. hiberniae has unusual rose-pink pigmentation, which is unique in the genus Mycobacterium.
  
  ## Pathogenesis
  
  * Not pathogenic
  * Provokes a nonspecific skin hypersensitivity reaction to bovine tuberculin.
  * Biosafety level 1
  
  ## Type strain
  
  * First isolated from true moss, sphagnum, and soil in Ireland
  