The genus name stems from Greek noun κύστις (kustis), meaning "bladder" and Neo-Latin masculine noun bacter "rod" consequently the Neo-Latin masculine noun Cystobacter means bladder-forming rod.
Species
The genus contains 8 species (including basonyms and synonyms), namely
C. armeniaca Reichenbach 2007 (L. fem. n. armeniaca, an apricot-tree, intended to mean apricot-colored.)
C. badius Reichenbach 2007 (L. masc. adj. badius, chestnut brown.)
C. ferrugineus (Krzemieniewska and Krzemieniewski 1927) McCurdy 1970 (L. masc. adj. ferrugineus, of the color of iron-rust, dark-red.)
123Cystobacter in LPSN; Freese, H. M.; Meier-Kolthoff, J. P.; Sardà Carbasse, J.; Afolayan, A. O.; Göker, M. (2026). "TYGS and LPSN in 2025: a Global Core Biodata Resource for genome-based classification and nomenclature of prokaryotes within DSMZ Digital Diversity". Nucleic Acids Research. 54 (D1): D884–D891. doi:10.1093/nar/gkaf1110.