A novel Gram-stain-negative, non-spore-forming and short rod-shaped bacterium, strain LIP-5T, isolated from an activated sludge in a pesticide factory in Xinyi, China, was investigated for its taxonomic position by a polyphasic approach. Cell growth occurred at 16-42 °C (optimum, 30 °C), in the presence of 0-3.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, without NaCl) and at pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum, pH 7.0). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons showed that the isolate was a member of the family Chitinophagaceae, with the closest relatives being Arachidicoccus rhizosphaerae Vu-144T (93.5 % similarity), followed by Heliimonas saccharivorans L2-4T (90.5 %) and Chitinophaga ginsengisoli Gsoil 052T (89.6 %). Menaquinone 7 (MK-7) was the predominant respiratory ubiquinone and phosphatidylethanolamine and unidentified lipids were the major polar lipids. The major cellular fatty acids of strain LIP-5T were anteiso-C15 : 0 and iso-C15 : 0, and there were also moderate amounts of iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and C17 : 0 2-OH. The DNA G+C content was 42.3 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic data, strain LIP-5T was classified as representing a novel species of a new genus, for which the name Haoranjiania flava gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Haoranjiania flava is LIP-5T (=CCTCC AB 2015365T=KCTC 42956T).