[1] Proteus mirabilis can migrate across the surface of solid media or devices using a type of cooperative group motility called swarming.

It can be diagnosed in the lab due to characteristic swarming motility, and inability to metabolize lactose (on a MacConkey agar plate, for example).

This rod-shaped bacterium has the ability to produce high levels of urease, which hydrolyzes urea to ammonia (NH3), so makes the urine more alkaline.

[7] The micro-organism tests: Swarming is a specialized form of motility that groups of multicellular, flagellated bacteria can undergo to expand their populations to new locations.

[10] In liquid culture, Proteus mirabilis exists as a vegetative cell that is approximately 2 μm long and has four to ten peritrichous flagella.

[8] The swarming process continues as periodic cycles of cell differentiation, population migration, and consolidation as the bacteria undergo these changes in response to environmental stimulants.

The repetition of this cycle is what gives Proteus mirabilis its distinctive bulls-eye pattern when growing on solid media.