As a monotypic genus the description for the species R. andropogonis is the same as that of the genus Robbsia. The G+C content of the type strain is 58.92 mol % (Lopes-Santos et al. 2015).

The type strain is IBSBF 199 (=ICMP 2807T=ATCC 23061T=CFBP 2421T=DSM 9511T=LMG 2129T=NCPPB 934T).

Robbsia (Robb’s.i.a. N.L. fem. n. Robbsia named after Charles Frederick Robbs, a bacteriologist who pioneered bacterial plant pathology in Brazil). In addition to the description by Palleroni (1984) and Gillis et al. (1995) (of B. andropogonis), Robbsia strains are oxidase, gelatin hydrolysis, arginine dihydrolase, propionate, cellobiose, maltose, salicin, saccharose and erythritol negative. Citrate, malonate, succinate, acetate, fructose, arabinose, galactose, mannitol, mannose, sorbitol and HR (Hypersensitive Response) positive. Can be differentiated from Burkholderia, Paraburkholderia and Caballeronia species by its single polar sheathed flagellum (Fuerst and Hayward 1969); rhizobitoxine production (Okazaki et al. 2004); 16S rRNA and housekeeping genes sequences; genome comparison by average nucleotide identity; tetranucleotide frequency signature and percentage similarity of conserved proteins. Pathogenic to a wide range of host plants, with an extensive geographical distribution (EPPO 2014). The type species is Robbsia andropogonis.