A Gram-stain-negative, non-flagellated, aerobic and ovoid or rod-shaped bacterium, designated J-MS1(T), was isolated from seashore sand in the South Sea, South Korea, and subjected to a polyphasic taxonomic study. Strain J-MS1(T) was found to grow optimally at 30 °C and pH 7.0-8.0. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain J-MS1(T) belonged to the genus Rheinheimera, clustering coherently with the type strain of Rheinheimera chironomi and sharing 98.34% sequence similarity. Strain J-MS1(T) exhibited 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 94.26-96.98% to the type strains of the other species of the genus Rheinheimera. In the phylogenetic trees based on gyrB sequences, strain J-MS1(T) clustered with the type strain of R. chironomi, with which it shared the highest sequence similarity (86.97%). Strain J-MS1(T) contained Q-8 as the predominant ubiquinone and summed feature 3 (C(16:1)ω7c and/or C(16:1)ω6c), C(16:0) and C(18:1)ω7c as the major fatty acids. The major polar lipids detected in strain J-MS1(T) and in the type strain of R. chironomi were phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine. The DNA G+C content of strain J-MS1(T) was 49.8 mol% and its mean DNA-DNA relatedness value with R. chironomi LMG 23818(T) was 12%. Differential phenotypic properties, together with its phylogenetic and genetic distinctiveness, revealed that strain J-MS1(T) is separated from recognized species of the genus Rheinheimera. On the basis of the data presented, strain J-MS1(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Rheinheimera, for which the name Rheinheimera arenilitoris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is J-MS1(T) ( =KCTC 42112(T) =CECT 8623(T)).
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