A Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, non-spore-forming bacterium, designated strain HR2(T), was isolated from a soil sample from the Taklimaken Desert in Xinjiang Province, China. Strain HR2(T) grew optimally at pH 7.0-8.0 and 30-37 degrees C in the presence of 0-1 % (w/v) NaCl. An analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain HR2(T) fell within the radiation of the genus Pseudomonas, the highest level of similarity being found with respect to Pseudomonas luteola IAM 13000(T) (97.5 %); the levels of sequence similarity with respect to other recognized Pseudomonas species were <96.4 %. DNA-DNA hybridization showed that the genetic relatedness between strain HR2(T) and P. luteola IAM 13000(T) was 53.2 %. The G+C content of the genomic DNA of strain HR2(T) was 55.2 mol%. The major fatty acids were 18 : 1, summed feature 3 and 16 : 0. The hydroxylated fatty acids 10 : 0 3-OH, 12 : 0 3-OH and 12 : 0 2-OH were also present. The data obtained in this polyphasic study indicated that this isolate represents a novel species of the genus Pseudomonas, for which the name Pseudomonas duriflava sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is HR2(T) (=KCTC 22129(T)=CGMCC 1.6858(T)).