A Gram-negative, short rod-shaped, floc-forming bacterial strain J5-66(T) without any flagellum was isolated from coking wastewater collected from Shaoguan, Guangdong, China. It was capable of optimal growth at pH 7, 30 °C, and 1-2 % (w/v) NaCl. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that this strain belonged to the genus Ottowia in Comamonadaceae, and the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity was 96.2 % with Ottowia pentelensis DSM 21699(T). The major cellular fatty acids of strain J5-66(T) were C₁₆:₁ω7c/C₁₆:₁ ω6c (45.0 %), C₁₆:₀ (21.1 %), C₁₈:₁ ω7c or/and C₁₈:₁ ω6c (19.2 %). The polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine, glycolipid and two unidentified phospholipids (PL1 and PL2). The predominant ubiquinone was Q-8, and the G+C content of the genome DNA was 64.4 mol%. On the basis of genetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic analyses, strain J5-66(T) represents a novel species of the genus Ottowia for which the name Ottowia shaoguanensis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is J5-66(T) (=CGMCC 1.12431(T) =LMG 27408(T)).