A Gram-positive-staining, aerobic, moderately halophilic bacterium, designated strain Y32(T), was isolated from subsurface soil of the Sanwei salt field, Yancheng, Jiangsu province, South-east China. The cell-wall peptidoglycan type of strain Y32(T) was meso-diaminopimelic acid. The menaquinone was menaquinone-7 (MK-7). The major fatty acids were anteiso-C(15 : 0) and iso-C(15 : 0) and the DNA G+C content of strain Y32(T) was 40.3 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain Y32(T) was closely related to the type strains of the genus Pontibacillus. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of strain Y32(T) with the type strains of species of the genus Pontibacillus were 97.8 % (Pontibacillus marinus KCTC 3917(T)), 96.9 % (Pontibacillus chungwhensis BH030062(T)), 96.8 % (Pontibacillus litoralis JSM 072002(T)) and 96.0 % (Pontibacillus halophilus JSM 076056(T)). DNA-DNA relatedness between strain Y32(T) and P. marinus KCTC 3917(T) was 42 %. On the basis of phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic evidences, strain Y32(T) was found to be affiliated to the genus Pontibacillus, but was clearly differentiated from other members of this genus. Strain Y32(T) represents a novel member of the genus, for which the name Pontibacillus yanchengensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Y32(T) ( = CGMCC 1.10680(T) = CCTCC AB209311(T) = NRRL B-59408(T)).