A heterotrophic, Gram-negative, prosthecate bacterium, designated strain G5 T , was isolated from a sandy beach of Taean in South Korea. Cells of strain G5T were aerobic, catalase-and oxidasepositive, straight to slightly curved motile rods with a single flagellum and formed yellow-orange colonies on agar. Growth occurred at 15-40 6C (optimum 25-30 6C) and pH 6-9 (optimum pH 7-8). The major cellular fatty acids were C 18 : 1 v7c, C 17 : 0 , C 16 : 0 , 11-methyl C 18 : 1 v7c, C 17 : 1 v8c and C 17 : 1 v6c. The polar lipid pattern indicated the presence of phosphatidylglycerol, monoglycosyldiglyceride, glucuronopyranosyldiglyceride and two unidentified glycolipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 63.6 mol% and the major quinone was Q-10. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain G5 T belonged to the branch containing the genera Hellea, Robiginitomaculum and Hypomonas within the family Hyphomonadaceae. Within this group, strain G5 T was most closely related to Hellea balneolensis 26III/A02/215 T with 95.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Based on its phylogenetic position and its phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular properties, strain G5 T represents a novel species of a novel genus of the family Hyphomonadaceae, for which the name Litorimonas taeanensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is G5 T (5KACC 13701 T 5DSM 22008 T ).