A taxonomic study was carried out on strain B106(T), which was isolated from a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-degrading consortium, enriched with deep seawater from the Indian Ocean. The isolate was Gram-negative, oxidase- and catalase-positive, rod-shaped and motile by means of one polar flagellum. Growth was observed at salinities of 0.5-11 % and at temperatures of 4-42 degrees C, and the strain was capable of nitrate reduction, but was unable to degrade Tween 80 or gelatin. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that strain B106(T) belonged to the genus Stappia, with a highest sequence similarity of 97.7 % to Stappia stellulata IAM 12621(T); similarity to other strains was below 95.2 %. DNA-DNA hybridization between strain B106(T) and S. stellulata IAM 12621(T) was 43 %. The major fatty acids were C(16 : 0) (6.10 %), C(18 : 1)omega7c (62.58 %), C(18 : 0) (5.17 %), C(18 : 1)omega7c 11-methyl (14.48 %) and C(19 : 0)omega8c cyclo (4.70 %). The G+C content of the chromosomal DNA was 65.9 mol%. The combined genotypic and phenotypic data showed that strain B106(T) represents a novel species of the genus Stappia, for which the name Stappia indica sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain B106(T) (=PR56-8(T)=CCTCC AB 208228(T)=LMG 24625(T)=MCCC 1A01226(T)).