A taxonomic study was carried out on strain C10-2T, a moderately halophilic denitrifier isolated from activated sludge samples collected in China. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain C10-2T belonged to the genus Pseudomonas, with highest sequence similarity of 98.1 and 97.7 % to 'Pseudomonas denitrificans' IAM 12023 and Pseudomonas pertucinogena JCM 11590T, respectively. The gyrB, rpoD and rpoB gene sequence similarity between strain C10-2T and P. pertucinogena JCM 11590T was respectively 84.1, 79.0 and 88.2 %. Phylogenetic trees based on these housekeeping genes showed that strain C10-2T and P. pertucinogena JCM 11590T form a clade at the periphery of the genus Pseudomonas. The DNA-DNA hybridization value between strain C10-2T and P. pertucinogena JCM 11590T was 30-32 %. The G+C content of the chromosomal DNA was 61.2 mol%. The combined genotypic and phenotypic data show that strain C10-2T represents a novel species of the genus Pseudomonas, for which the name Pseudomonas xiamenensis sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain C10-2T (=CGMCC 1.6446 =JCM 13530T =MCCC 1A00089T).