Two extremely halophilic archaea, strains 9-3(T) and 31-hong(T), were isolated from Aibi salt lake and Aiding salt lake in Xin-Jiang, China. Their morphology, physiology, biochemical features, polar lipid compositions and 16S rRNA gene sequences were characterized in order to elucidate their taxonomic status. The results from this study indicated that strains 9-3(T) and 31-hong(T) are members of the genus Halorubrum. Their physiological properties and polar lipid compositions are clearly different from those of the currently described species of Halorubrum. DNA-DNA relatedness values for strain 9-3(T) with respect to its closely related neighbours Halorubrum saccharovorum JCM 8865(T) and Halorubrum lacusprofundi JCM 8891(T) were 51.6 and 25.1 %, respectively, DNA-DNA relatedness values for strain 31-hong(T) with respect to its closely related neighbours Hrr. saccharovorum JCM 8865(T) and Hrr. lacusprofundi JCM 8891(T) were 29.4 and 44.9 %, respectively, and DNA-DNA relatedness between strains 9-3(T) and 31-hong(T) was 54 %. Thus, two novel species of the genus Halorubrum are proposed, Halorubrum lipolyticum sp. nov. (type strain 9-3(T)=CGMCC 1.5332(T)=JCM 13559(T)) and Halorubrum aidingense sp. nov. (type strain 31-hong(T)=CGMCC 1.2670(T)=JCM 13560(T)).