A strain was isolated from soil that formed short chains of aerial mycelium dividing into motile spores on an agar medium, but not substrate mycelium. The organism had menaquinone 9(H8), LL-diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall amino acids and a DNA G + C content of 71 mol%. On the basis of the morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics and phylogenetic analysis, this strain was classified into the genus Sporichthya. DNA-DNA hybridization revealed that the strain differed from the known species, Sporichthya polymorpha. Therefore, a new species, Sporichthya brevicatena sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is S. brevicatena YU720-21T (= IFO 16195T).