A
bacillus (plural bacilli) is a
rod-shaped bacterium. Bacilli are found in many different taxonomic groups of bacteria. However, the name
Bacillus, capitalized and
italicized, refers to a specific genus of bacteria. The name
Bacilli, capitalized but not italicized, can also refer to a less specific taxonomic group of bacteria that includes two orders, one of which contains the genus
Bacillus. When the word is formatted with a lowercase and not italicized, 'bacillus', it will most likely be referring to shape and not to the genus at all. The shape bacillus can also be called rods.
