A bacterial strain, designated Npb-03(T), was isolated from a freshwater river in Taiwan and was characterized using a polyphasic taxonomic approach. The cells were Gram-reaction-negative, straight rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore-forming and facultatively anaerobic. Growth occurred at 10-37 �XC (optimum, 30-35 �XC), at pH 6.0-8.0 (optimum, pH 6.0-7.0) and with 0-1.0% NaCl (optimum, 0%). The predominant fatty acids were summed feature 3 (comprising C(16 : 1)�s7c and/or C(16 : 1)�s6c) and C(16 : 0). The major isoprenoid quinone was Q-8 and the DNA G+C content was 64.1 mol%. The polar lipid profile consisted of a mixture of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, an uncharacterized aminolipid and three uncharacterized phospholipids. The major polyamines were putrescine, 2-hydroxyputrescine, cadaverine and spermidine. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain Npb-03(T) forms a distinct lineage with respect to closely related genera within the family Neisseriaceae of the class Betaproteobacteria, most closely related to the genera Aquaspirillum, Laribacter, Leeia and Microvirgula, and the levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with respect to the type species of related genera are less than 93%. On the basis of the genotypic and phenotypic data, strain Npb-03(T) represents a novel genus and species of the family Neisseriaceae, for which the name Rivicola pingtungensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Npb-03(T) (= BCRC 80376(T) = LMG 26668(T) = KCTC 23712(T)).