A Gram-positive actinobacterium, designated strain YIM 90716(T), was isolated from a saline soil sample collected from Ganjiahu Suosuo Forest National Nature Reserve in Xinjiang Province, north-west China. The new isolate contained lysine, glutamic acid and alanine with peptidoglycan type Lys-Ala(3) (variation A3alpha). The major phospholipids were phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The predominant menaqinone was MK-7(H(2)). The major fatty acids were anteiso-C(15 : 0), iso-C(16 : 0) and anteiso-C(17 : 0). The DNA G+C content of strain YIM 90716(T) was 68.0 mol%. Chemotaxonomic properties supported the affiliation of strain YIM 90716(T) to the genus Kocuria. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the organism was related most closely to Kocuria kristinae DSM 20032(T) (96.8 % similarity) and showed lower levels of 16S rRNA gene similarity (<96.5 %) with the type strains of other species of the genus Kocuria. The results of fatty acid analysis and physiological and biochemical tests allowed the genotypic and phenotypic differentiation of strain YIM 90716(T) from its closest relatives. On the basis of data from the present polyphasic study, strain YIM 90716(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Kocuria, for which the name Kocuria halotolerans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 90716(T) (=DSM 18442(T)=KCTC 19172(T)=CCTCC AB 206069(T)).