Methanopyrus

In taxonomy, Methanopyrus is a genus of the Methanopyraceae.

Methanopyrus is a genus of methanogen, with a single described species, M. kandleri. It is a hyperthermophile, discovered on the wall of a black smoker from the Gulf of California at a depth of 2000 m, at temperatures of 84–110 °C. Strain 116 was discovered in black smoker fluid of the Kairei hydrothermal field; it can survive and reproduce at 122 °C. It lives in a hydrogen-carbon dioxide rich environment, and like other methanogens reduces the latter to methane. It is placed among the Euryarchaeota, in its own class.