A Gram-reaction-negative, aerobic, oxidase- and catalase-positive, yellow-pigmented, non-flagellated, rod-shaped bacterium, designed strain SM1501T, was isolated from surface seawater of the South China Sea. SM1501T grew at 7-42 °C and with 0-11 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that SM1501T represented a member of the genus Erythrobacter, sharing the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (97.4 %) with Erythrobacter luteus and 94.2-96.5 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to other species of the genus Erythrobacterwith validly published names. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) value and in silico DNA-DNA hybridization value between SM1501T and E. luteus were only 74.6 and 20.0 %, respectively. The predominant cellular fatty acids of SM1501T were C17 : 1ω6c, C18 : 1ω7c and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or iso-C15 : 0 2-OH). The major polar lipids of the strain were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, sphingoglycolipid, diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine and the main respiratory quinone of was Q-10. Polyphasic data presented in this paper support the notion that SM1501T represents a novel species in the genus Erythrobacter, for which the name Erythrobacter xanthus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Erythrobacterxanthus is SM1501T (=KCTC 42669T=CCTCC AB 2015396T).