A Gram-stain-positive, coccoid, non-motile, halotolerant actinobacterium, designated YIM 45900(T), was found as a contaminant on an agar plate in the laboratory of Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, China. The peptidoglycan type was A4alpha with an (L)-Lys-(L)-Ser-(D)-Asp interpeptide bridge. The cell-wall sugars contained galactose and fucose. The predominant menaquinone was MK-8(H(4)). The major fatty acids were iso-C(15 : 0), anteiso-C(15 : 0) and anteiso-C(17 : 0). The polar lipids contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, a glucosamine-containing phospholipid and an unknown phospholipid. The DNA G+C content was 65.8 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the organism falls within the radius of the suborder Micrococcineae and its closest phylogenetic neighbours are the genera of the family Dermacoccaceae. Strain YIM 45900(T) showed 16S rRNA gene sequences similarity values of 93.1-95.9 % with members of the genera Dermacoccus, Demetria and Kytococcus. On the basis of the phylogenetic and phenotypic characteristics of the actinobacterium, a novel genus and species, Yimella lutea gen. nov., sp. nov., are proposed. The type strain of Yimella lutea is YIM 45900(T) (=DSM 19828(T) =KCTC 19231(T) =CCTCC AB 207007(T)).