tropicibacter phthalicicus tropicibacter phthalicicus tropicibacter phthalicicus is a gram-negative, phthalate-degrading and aerobic bacterium from the genus of tropicibacter which has been isolated from seawater from the ishigaki island in japan. tropicibacter phthalicicus scientific classification domain: bacteria phylum: pseudomonadota class: alphaproteobacteria order: rhodobacterales family: rhodobacteraceae genus: tropicibacter species: t. phthalicicus binomial name tropicibacter phthalicicusiwaki et al. 2012 type strain cect 8649, jcm 17793, kctc 23703, ku27e