A novel mesophilic, hydrogen- and thiosulfate-oxidizing bacterium, strain ISO32T, was isolated from diffuse-flow hydrothermal fluids from the Crab Spa vent on the East Pacific Rise. Cells of ISO32T were rods, being motile by means of a single polar flagellum. The isolate grew at a temperature range between 30 and 55 °C (optimum, 43 °C), at a pH range between 5.3 and 7.6 (optimum, pH 5.8) and in the presence of 2.0–4.0 % NaCl (optimum, 2.5 %). The isolate was able to grow chemolithoautotrophically with molecular hydrogen, thiosulfate or elemental sulfur as the sole electron donor. Thiosulfate, elemental sulfur, nitrate and molecular oxygen were each used as a sole electron acceptor. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences placed ISO32T in the genus
Hydrogenimonas
of the class
Epsilonproteobacteria
, with
Hydrogenimonas thermophila
EP1-55–1 %T as its closest relative (95.95 % similarity). On the basis of the phylogenetic, physiological and genomic characteristics, it is proposed that the organism represents a novel species within the genus
Hydrogenimonas
, Hydrogenimonas cancrithermarum sp. nov. The type strain is ISO32T (=JCM 39185T =KCTC 25252T). Furthermore, the genomic properties of members of the genus
Hydrogenimonas
are distinguished from those of members of other thermophilic genera in the orders
Campylobacterales
(
Nitratiruptor
and
Nitrosophilus
) and
Nautiliales
(
Caminibacter
,
Nautilia
and
Lebetimonas
), with larger genome sizes and lower 16S rRNA G+C content values. Comprehensive metabolic comparisons based on genomes revealed that genes responsible for the Pta–AckA pathway were observed exclusively in members of mesophilic genera in the order
Campylobacterales
and of the genus
Hydrogenimonas
. Our results indicate that the genus
Hydrogenimonas
contributes to elucidating the evolutionary history of
Epsilonproteobacteria
in terms of metabolism and transition from a thermophilic to a mesophilic lifestyle.