An actinomycete that developed sporangia containing four spores in a single row at the ends of short sporangiophores on branched aerial hyphae was isolated from subtropical forest soil. The isolate contained menaquinone MK-9(H(4)), glutamic acid, alanine and meso-diaminopimelic acid as cell-wall amino acids and madurose in the whole-cell hydrolysate. The 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that the isolate formed a monophyletic cluster with Planotetraspora mira. On the basis of morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics, phylogenetic analysis and DNA-DNA relatedness data, a novel species of the genus Planotetraspora is proposed, Planotetraspora silvatica sp. nov. (type strain, TT 00-51(T)=NBRC 100141(T)=DSM 44746(T)).