A novel halophilic actinomycete, designated strain YIM 93223(T), was isolated from a salt lake in Xinjiang Province, north-west China, and was subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. The isolate grew at 25-45 degrees C, at pH 6-8 and in the presence of 1-15 % (w/v) NaCl; no growth was observed in the absence of NaCl. Strain YIM 93223(T) contained meso-diaminopimelic acid, glutamic acid and alanine as cell-wall amino acids, and glucose and galactose as major whole-cell-wall sugars. Major fatty acids were iso-C(16 : 0), C(16 : 0) and C(16 : 1)omega7c/iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH. MK-8(H(4)) was the predominant menaquinone. The genomic DNA G+C content was 66.1 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain YIM 93223(T) belongs to the genus Amycolatopsis. It shared highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Amycolatopsis palatopharyngis 1BDZ(T) (96.6 %) and Amycolatopsis marina Ms392A(T) (96.4 %), but lower values (94.5-96.2 %) with the type strains of other recognized species of the genus Amycolatopsis. On the basis of the data from this polyphasic study, strain YIM 93223(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Amycolatopsis, for which the name Amycolatopsis halophila sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 93223(T) (=DSM 45216(T) =KCTC 19403(T)).