A Gram-negative, non-spore-forming, non-motile, rod-shaped, red-pigmented strain, designated YIM 007T, was found as a contaminant on an agar plate in the laboratory of Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, China. The optimum growth pH and temperature for the isolate were 7.0-7.5 and 30 degrees C, respectively. The predominant respiratory quinone was MK-8. The polar lipid profile consisted mainly of various unknown phosphoglycolipids and glycolipids. The major cellular fatty acids were C(16 : 1)omega7c, C(16 : 0), C(17 : 0) and C(17 : 1)omega8c. l-Ornithine was detected in its peptidoglycan. The DNA G+C content was 64.1 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain YIM 007(T) showed 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity levels of 86.8-92.1 % to the other described Deinococcus species. Based on the high 16S rRNA gene sequence divergence and phenotypic differences, it is proposed that the unknown strain should be classified as a novel species in the genus Deinococcus with the name Deinococcus yunweiensis sp. nov. The type strain is YIM 007T (=KCTC 3962T=DSM 17005T).