The novel, Gram-stain-positive, ovoid, lactic acid bacterial isolates LMG 27205, LMG 27206, LMG 27207(T) and MRI-F 18 were obtained from throat samples of healthy humans. 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses indicated that these isolates belong to the genus Streptococcus, specifically the Streptococcus mitis group, with Streptococcus australis and Streptococcus mitis as the nearest neighbours (99.45 and 98.56 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to the respective type strains). Genotypic fingerprinting by fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism (FAFLP) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), DNA-DNA hybridizations, comparative sequence analysis of pheS, rpoA and atpA and physiological and biochemical tests revealed that these bacteria formed a taxon well separated from its nearest neighbours and other species of the genus Streptococcus with validly published names and, therefore, represent a novel species, for which the name Streptococcus rubneri sp. nov. is proposed, with LMG 27207(T) ( = DSM 26920(T)) as the type strain.