A Gram-positive bacterium, designated B22(T), was isolated from potting soil produced in Portugal. This organism is a catalase-positive, oxidase-negative, motile, spore-forming, aerobic rod that grows optimally at 37 degrees C and pH 8.0-8.5. Optimal growth occurs in media containing 1 % (w/v) NaCl, although the organism can grow in 0-8 % NaCl. The cell wall peptidoglycan is of the A4alpha type with a cross-linkage containing d-Asp. The major respiratory quinone is menaquinone 7 and the major fatty acids are anteiso-15 : 0, anteiso-17 : 0 and iso-15 : 0. The DNA G+C content is 37.9 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain B22(T) formed a new branch within the family Bacillaceae. The novel isolate is phylogenetically closely related to members of genera of moderately halophilic bacilli and formed a coherent cluster with species of the genera Salinibacillus, Virgibacillus, Oceanobacillus and Lentibacillus, supported by bootstrap analysis at a confidence level of 71 %. Strain B22(T) exhibited 16S rRNA gene pairwise sequence similarity values of 94.7-94.3 % with members of the genus Salinibacillus, 95.1-92.8 % with members of the genus Virgibacillus, 94.7-93.2 % with members of the genus Oceanobacillus and 93.1-92.3 % with members of the genus Lentibacillus. On the basis of phylogenetic analysis and physiological and biochemical characteristics, it is proposed that strain B22(T) represents a novel species in a new genus, Paucisalibacillus globulus gen. nov., sp. nov. Strain B22(T) (=LMG 23148(T)=CIP 108857(T)) is the type strain of Paucisalibacillus globulus.