Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Rumen microbes are categorized based on their primary metabolic function and the substrates they ferment (such as cellulose, starch, protein, or lipids).
Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Let us analyze the role of each bacterium:
1. Oxalobacter formigenes: A specialized anaerobic bacterium that degrades oxalate in the gut, helping to prevent kidney stone formation.
2. Fibrobacter succinogenes: One of the most abundant and active cellulolytic (fiber-digesting) bacterial species in the rumen, highly efficient at degrading crystalline cellulose.
3. Succinomonas amylolytica: A rumen bacterium that primarily ferments starch (amylolytic) rather than cellulose.
4. Metanobacterium ruminantium (now Methanobrevibacter ruminantium): An archaeon involved in methanogenesis, utilizing hydrogen and carbon dioxide to produce methane, not a cellulolytic bacterium.
Thus, Fibrobacter succinogenes is primarily a cellulolytic bacterium.
Step 4: Final Answer
The correct option is (B).