A novel actinobacterium, strain A8036(T), isolated from soil, was investigated by using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. The organism formed extensively branched substrate hyphae that generated spiral chains of spores with irregular surfaces. The cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid (type III) and cell-wall sugars were glucose, madurose, mannose and ribose. The predominant menaquinones were MK-9(H(6)) and MK-9(H(4)). The phospholipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylinositol mannosides. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C(16:0), C(17:1)cis9, C(16:0), C(15:0) and 10-methyl C(17:0). Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, the closest phylogenetic neighbours of strain A8036(T) were Actinomadura meyerae DSM 44715(T) (99.23% similarity), Actinomadura bangladeshensis DSM 45347(T) (98.9%) and Actinomadura chokoriensis DSM 45346(T) (98.3%). However, DNA-DNA relatedness and phenotypic data demonstrated that strain A8036(T) could be clearly distinguished from the type strains of all closely related Actinomadura species. Strain A8036(T) is therefore considered to represent a novel species of the genus Actinomadura, for which the name Actinomadura geliboluensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is A8036(T) ( = DSM 45508(T) = KCTC 19868(T)).