A novel pale-yellow-pigmented, moderately halophilic, facultatively alkaliphilic, non-motile, non-spore-forming, catalase- and oxidase-positive, obligately aerobic Gram-positive coccus, strain YIM-C678T was isolated from a saline soil sample collected from a hypersaline habitat in the Qaidam basin, northwest China. The organism grew at 4-37 degrees C and pH 6.0-11.0, with optimum growth at 25 degrees C and pH 8.0. Strain YIM-C678T grew optimally in the presence of 10-12% (w/v) NaCl and growth was observed in 1-25% (w/v) NaCl. The cell wall murein type was L: -Lys-Gly5. Major cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15:0, iso-C15:0, iso-C16:0 and C16:0. Menaquinone 6 (MK-6) was the major respiratory quinone. The DNA G + C content was 46.5 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the strain YIM-C678T belonged to the family Staphylococcaceae and was most closely related to the eight described species of the genus Salinicoccus with sequence similarities from 92.2 (S. luteus YIM 70202T) to 97.5% (S. kunmingensis YIM Y15T). The DNA-DNA relatedness between strain YIM-C678T and S. kunmingensis YIM Y15T was 35.4%. Chemotaxonomic data and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis supported the affiliation of strain YIM-C678T with the genus Salinicoccus. The combination of phylogenetic analysis, phenotypic characteristics, chemotaxonomic differences and DNA-DNA hybridization data supported the view that the bacterium represents a novel species of the genus Salinicoccus, for which the name Salinicoccus salitudinis sp. nov. is proposed, with YIM-C678T (=DSM 17846 = CGMCC 1.6299) as the type strain.