Three Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, motile and rod-shaped bacterial strains, 7Q-K02T, DHF22T and DHOM02T, were isolated from forest soil sampled at Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve, Guangdong Province, China. Strains 7Q-K02T, DHF22T and DHOM02T grew at 4–37, 4–42 and 12–37 °C, pH 3.0–8.5, 3.5–8.5 and 5.0–8.0, and in the presence of 0–3.0, 0–3.5 and 0–2.5 % (w/v) NaCl; with optima at 28–33, 28 and 28–33 °C, pH 3.5–6.5, 4.0–5.5 and 6.5–7.0, and 0–1.5, 0–1.5 and 0.5–1.5 % (w/v) NaCl, respectively. Strains 7Q-K02T and DHF22T have the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of 99.0 and 98.0 % to
Paraburkholderia sacchari
LMG 19450T and 97.7 % between themselves, while strain DHOM02T shares the highest similarity of 98.4 % to ‘Burkholderia rinojensis’ A396T followed by 98.3 % to
Burkholderia plantarii
ATCC 43733T. In the 16S rRNA gene sequence phylogram, strain 7Q-K02T formed a sister branch with
Paraburkholderia sacchari
,
Paraburkholderia oxyphila
and
Paraburkholderia paradisi
, and strain DHF22T was separated from all other species within the genus
Paraburkholderia
, while strain DHOM02T formed a separated clade with members of the genus
Burkholderia
. The DNA G+C contents of strains 7Q-K02T, DHF22T and DHOM02T wwe 64.3, 65.4 and 66.6 %, respectively. Digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values of strains 7Q-K02T, DHF22T and closely related
Paraburkholderia
strains were in the ranges of 25.5–43.7 % and 81.5–91.3 %, respectively. While dDDH and ANI values between strain DHOM02T and
Burkholderia
strains with genome sequence data were in the ranges of 22.4–31.0 % and 78.2–86.1 %, respectively. These three strains have the same major respiratory quinone: ubiquinone-8. Strains 7Q-K02T, DHF22T and DHOM02T have C16 : 0, C17 : 0 cyclo, C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c and summed feature 8 (C18 : 1
ω7c/C18 : 1
ω6c) as their major fatty acid compositions. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. On the basis of phenotypic, phylogenetic, genomic analyses and chemotaxonomic data, strains 7Q-K02T and DHF22T represent two novel species of the genus
Paraburkholderia
, for which the names Paraburkholderia acidiphila sp. nov. (type strain 7Q-K02T=CGMCC 1.15433T=KCTC 62472T=LMG 29209T) and Paraburkholderia acidisoli sp. nov. (type strain DHF22T=GDMCC 1.1448T=LMG 30262T) are proposed, while strain DHOM02T represents a novel species in the genus
Burkholderia
, for which the name Burkholderia guangdongensis sp. nov. (type strain DHOM02T=KCTC 42625T=LMG 28843T) is proposed. We also propose to transfer
Burkholderia ultramafica
to the genus
Paraburkholderia
as Paraburkholderia ultramafica comb. nov. based mainly on the results of phylogenomic analysis.