A lemon-shaped marine bacterium, strain CL-SP20(T), isolated from hypersaline water from a solar saltern in Korea, was characterized in terms of its physiological and biochemical features, its fatty acid profile and its phylogenetic position based on 16S rRNA gene sequences. Analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed a clear affiliation with the Roseobacter lineage (91.0-96.3 % similarity) of the family Rhodobacteraceae. However, strain CL-SP20(T) did not form a robust clade with any species of the Roseobacter clade, forming a distinct subline. Strain CL-SP20(T) is non-motile and forms beige colonies on marine agar. The strain is able to grow with sea salts at concentrations in the range 1-10 %, with optimal growth between 5 and 6 %. It grows at temperatures in the range 15-40 degrees C and at pH 6-10. The strain cannot oxidize thiosulfate. The fatty acids are dominated by 18 : 1omega7c (54.3 %) and 19 : 0 cyclo omega8c (20.4 %). The DNA G+C content is 67.3 mol%. According to the physiological data, fatty acid composition and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence, strain CL-SP20(T) represents a novel species in a novel genus of the family Rhodobacteraceae, for which the name Citreimonas salinaria gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Citreimonas salinaria is CL-SP20(T) (=KCCM 42116(T)=JCM 13036(T)).