A novel actinomycete strain, designated YIM 75904(T), was isolated from a soil sample that had been collected from a dry and hot river valley in Dongchuan county, Yunnan province, south-western China. The taxonomic position of the novel strain was investigated by a polyphasic approach. In phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strain YIM 75904(T) formed a distinct clade within the genus Amycolatopsis and appeared to be closely related to Amycolatopsis sacchari K24(T) (99.3% sequence similarity). Strain YIM 75904(T) had a type-IV cell wall, with no detectable mycolic acids, and had MK-9(H(4)) as its predominant menaquonine. Its cell wall contained meso-diaminopimelic acid, galactose, glucose and arabinose, and its major cellular fatty acids were iso-C(16:0), iso-C(15:0), anteiso-C(17:0) and anteiso-C(15:0). The genomic DNA G+C content of the novel strain was 68.5 mol%. Based on the results of physiological and biochemical tests and DNA-DNA hybridizations, strain YIM 75904(T) represents a novel species of the genus Amycolatopsis for which the name Amycolatopsis dongchuanensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YIM 75904(T) (=CCTCC AA 2011016(T) =JCM 18054(T)).