A cream-white-coloured, aerobic, Gram-positive, ovoid to spherical-shaped bacterial strain, designated L-143(T), was isolated from soil in Taiwan. The highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities of strain L-143(T) (98.3-95.8%) were with members of the genus Rothia. Chemotaxonomic and phenotypic properties of this organism were consistent with its classification in the genus Rothia. The novel isolate was distinguished from all Rothia species by several phenotypic characteristics. The peptidoglycan type was A3alpha, containing lysine, glutamic acid and alanine. The isolate contained MK-7 as the major component of the quinone system. The predominant polar lipid consisted of phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol, with some unknown phospho- and glycolipids as minor components. The major fatty acids were anteiso-15:0 (57.3%), anteiso-17:0 (17.0%) and 16:0 (9.3%). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 56.1 mol%. Hence, genotypic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data demonstrate that strain L-143(T) should be classified as a novel species in the genus Rothia, for which the name Rothia terrae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is L-143(T) (=BCRC 17588(T)=LMG 23708(T)).