Bacillus megaterium is a rod-shaped, Gram-positive

Gram staining

Gram staining is a method of differentiating bacterial species into two large groups ....

, endospore forming, species of bacteria

Bacteria

Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...

 used as a soil inoculant

Soil inoculant

Soil inoculants are bacteria or fungi that are added to soils in order to improve plant growth by either:*Freeing up soil nutrients for plant use.*Entering into symbiotic relationships with plant root systems....

 in agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 and horticulture

Horticulture

Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...

.
Bacterium is arranged into the streptobacillus form.

Bacillus megaterium is a rod shaped bacterium and one of the largest eubacteria found in soil. Groups of the bacteria are often found in chains where the cells are joined together by polysaccharides on the cell walls. Bacillus megaterium is able to survive in some extreme conditions such as desert environments due to the spores it forms. Where there are favourable conditions the spores can survive.
Sometimes this particular bacteria can be found on common surfaces that are frequently touched.

Bacillus megaterium produces penicillin amidase used for making penicillin. It produces enzymes for modifying corticosteroids, as well as several amino acid dehydrogenases.

History of the name

The species was described by A. deBary in 1884, who called it Bacillus megaterium, but did not give an etymology, However, some subsequent authors called it B. megatherium assuming the name was incorrectly spelt.

The name is a nominative noun in apposition (see Rule 12 of IBCN) and is formed from the Greek adjective mega, (μέγας , μεγάλη, μέγα) meaning "great", and a second word of unclear etymology. three hypotheses of the epithet "megaterium" are possible:

• unintentional orthographic error (unlikely given the fact that de Bary and his students, consistently used the epithet "megaterium"), whereas it should have been megatherium", from therion (θηρίον, meaning "beast" ), to mean "great beast".
• a contraction of "megabacterium" as speculated by Rippel in given the fact that de Bary called the bacterium with the nickname Grosstier or Grossvich
• stems from teras, teratos (τέρας, τέρατος, a neuter noun meaning omen or wonder or, indirectly, monster,) which could be interpreted to mean "great monster" (with the Neolatin name being formed incorrectly given that there is no evidence of a Greek third declension noun when converted into Latin becoming a second Latin declention using the nominative stem, which is "ter-" while the other case use the stem "terat-". If were converted into a third decleasion noun it would have been "megateras, -atis").

Consequently it was desided in the first jouridical opinion of the Bacteriological code that the name should remain "megaterium" given the unclear meaning.

The etymology listed in LPSN is, despite being not quite correction, a fusion of the first and third interpretation Gr. adj. megas, large; Gr. n. teras -atis, monster, beast; N.L. n. megaterium, big beast.