n. [ see erysipelas. ] (Microbiol.) a genus of non-motile, rod-shaped Gram-positive bacteria of the family Corynebacteriaceae. They are facultatively anaerobic and produce acid but no gas from glucose. Members of this genus are parasitic on fish, birds, and mammals, including man. The type species of the genus, Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, causes erysipeloid in man. Stedman [ PJC ]