A Gram-positive, aerobic, flagellated, endospore-forming, rod-shaped strain, designated as G13T, was isolated from soil. The results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis led to the conclusion that strain G13T was phylogenetically related to
Cohnella boryungensis
BR29T (97.5 %) and
Cohnella phaseoli
CECT 7287T (96.9 %) with digital DNA–DNA hybridization values of 21.0 and 21.4 %, and distantly related to
Cohnella thermotolerans
CCUG 47242T (94.8 %), type species of the genus
Cohnella
, at 19.0 %. The genome size of strain G13T was 5 387 258 bp, with 51.3 mol% G+C content. The predominant fatty acids were summed feature 9 (iso-C17 : 1
ω9c and/or C16 : 0 10-methyl), anteiso-C17 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0. The predominant quinone was menaquinone-7 and the major polar lipids were diphosphatidyglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, lysylphosphatidylglycerol, three aminophospholipids, two phosphoglycolipids, three aminolipids and two unidentified lipids. Based on the data from phenotypic tests and the genotypic differences between strain G13T and its close phylogenetic relatives, strain G13T represents a new species belonging to the genus
Cohnella
, for which the name Cohnella terricola sp. nov. (=KACC 19905T=NBRC 113748T) is proposed.