A Gram-stain-positive, endospore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium, designated 1ZS3-5(T), was isolated from rice rhizosphere in Hunan Province, PR China. The isolate was identified as a member of the genus Paenibacillus on the basis of phenotypic characteristics and phylogenetic inference analysis. The 16S rRNA and rpoB gene (β-subunit of bacterial RNA polymerase) sequences were closely related to those of Paenibacillus taihuensis CGMCC 1.10966(T) with similarities of 97.2% and 89.7%, respectively. The DNA-DNA hybridization value between 1ZS3-5(T) and P. taihuensis CGMCC 1.10966(T) was 33.4%. The DNA G+C content of 1ZS3-5(T) was 47.5 mol%. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, unidentified aminophospholipid and unknown phospholipid. The predominant respiratory quinone was MK-7. The diamino acid found in the cell-wall peptidoglycan was meso-diaminopimelic acid. The major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 0 and iso-C16 : 0. Based on these results, 1ZS3-5(T) is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus rhizoryzae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 1ZS3-5(T) ( = ACCC 19782(T) = DSM 29322(T)).