A novel Gram-reaction-positive, rod-shaped, non-motile and mycolic acid-containing strain, CR3272T, isolated from soil, was studied using a polyphasic approach. The organism showed a combination of chemotaxonomic and morphological properties typical of the genus Nocardia. The cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid (type IV) and whole-cell sugars were galactose, glucose, arabinose and xylose. The predominant menaquinone was MK-8(H4cyc). The major phospholipids were diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol mannosides. Major fatty acids were C16:0, C18:1cis9, C18:0 10-methyl (TBSA) and C16:1cis9. The novel strain formed distinct phyletic line in the Nocardia 16S rRNA gene tree and was closely associated with Nocardia goodfellowii A2012T (98.6% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity), Nocardia alba YIM 30243T (98.5%) and Nocardia caishijiensis F829T (97.9%). However, DNA-DNA relatedness values and phenotypic data demonstrated that strain CR3272T was clearly distinguished from all closely related species of the genus Nocardia. It is concluded that the organism be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Nocardia, for which the name Nocardia sungurluensis is proposed. The type strain is CR3272T (=DSM 45714T=KCTC 29094T).