A polyphasic taxonomic approach was used to characterize a presumably novel bacterium, designated strain CC-YTH161T, isolated from an agarwood sample. Cells of strain CC-YTH161T were Gram-stain-positive aerobic rods, which grew at 20-40 °C, at pH 5.0-9.0 and with 0-5 % (w/v) NaCl. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, strain CC-YTH161T appeared to belong to the genus Humibacter, and was closely related to Humibacter antri D7-27T (96.6 % similarity) and Humibacter ginsengiterrae DCY60T (96.2 %). The DNA G+C content was 67.0 mol% and the predominant quinone system was menaquinones (MK) 11 and 12. The major cellular fatty acids of the isolate were C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0, anteiso-C17 : 0 and C18 : 1ω7c/C18 : 1ω6c. The polar lipid profile comprised predominant amounts of diphosphatidylglycerol followed by two unidentified co-migrating glycolipids and phosphatidylglycerol in significant amounts. The diagnostic diamino acid was 2,4-diaminobutyric acid. All these features confirmed the placement of strain CC-YTH161T within the genus Humibacter. On the basis of evidence from this study, strain CC-YTH161T is considered to represent a novel species of the genus Humibacter, for which the name Humibacter aquilariae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is CC-YTH161T (=BCRC 80936T=JCM 31199T).