A Gram-stain-negative, moderately halophilic, strictly aerobic bacterium, designated YIM 95161(T), was isolated from brine of a salt well in Yunnan province, China, and subjected to a taxonomic study using a polyphasic approach. Cells of strain YIM 95161(T) were short rods, approximately 0.9-1.4 µm long and 0.4-0.6 µm wide. Strain YIM 95161(T) grew at 15-40 °C (optimum, 25-30 °C), 6-29 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 14-19 %) and at pH 5.0-8.0 (optimum, pH 7.0). The predominant isoprenoid quinone was Q-8. The major fatty acids (>10 %) were summed feature 8 (C(18 : 1)ω6c and/or C(18 : 1)ω7c) and C(14 : 0). The polar lipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, one unknown phosphoglycolipid and two unknown lipids. The DNA G+C content was 69.5 %. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain YIM 95161(T) was a member of the genus Salinisphaera and exhibited sequence similarities of 96.7 %, 95.6 % and 95.4 % to Salinisphaera shabanensis E1L3A(T), Salinisphaera dokdonensis CL-ES53(T) and Salinisphaera hydrothermalis EPR70(T), respectively. On the basis of phylogenetic, physiological and chemotaxonomic analysis, strain YIM 95161(T) represents a novel species of the genus Salinisphaera, for which the name Salinisphaera halophila sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 95161(T) (= CCTCC AB 2011132(T) = JCM 17431(T)).