A novel actinomycete strain, designated TRM F103(T), was isolated from a hypersaline habitat of the Tarim basin in Xinjiang province, north-west China. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the isolate belonged to the genus Amycolatopsis and was most closely related to Amycolatopsis halophila YIM 93223(T) (99.3% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity). However, DNA-DNA relatedness between these two strains, based on triplicate experiments, was only 31.6%. The isolate contained meso-diaminopimelic acid and ribose, glucose and galactose as the major whole-cell sugars. The predominant menaquinone was MK-8(H(4)). The major fatty acids were iso-C(16:0) and C(16:0). The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine and glucosamine-containing phospholipids. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 66.4 mol%. The phenotypic data clearly distinguished the isolate from its closest relatives. The combined phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data indicate that the isolate represents a novel species of the genus Amycolatopsis. The proposed name is Amycolatopsis salitolerans sp. nov., with TRM F103(T) (=JCM 15899(T)=CCTCC AB 208326(T)) as the type strain.