The taxonomic position of a novel Gram-negative strain, designated SY1(T), isolated from a farm-soil sample obtained from Jiangsu Province, PR China, was characterized by using a polyphasic approach. The cells were non-motile, non-spore-forming rods. The organism grew optimally at 30-37 degrees C and at pH 6.0-8.0. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain SY1(T) is a member of the genus Sphingobacterium; Sphingobacterium multivorum JCM 21156(T) was the nearest relative (98.5 % sequence similarity). The predominant fatty acids of strain SY1(T) were iso-C(15 : 0) (32.9 %), C(16 : 0) (10.9 %) and summed feature 3 (iso-C(15 : 0) 2-OH and/or C(16 : 1)omega7c; 24.1 %). The DNA G+C content was 38.5 mol%. The low level of DNA-DNA relatedness (2.2 %) to S. multivorum JCM 21156(T) in combination with differential morphological and biochemical properties demonstrated that strain SY1(T) (=KCTC 22131(T)=CGMCC 1.6855(T)) should be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Sphingobacterium for which the name Sphingobacterium siyangense sp. nov. is proposed.