A novel actinomycete, designated strain NEAU-SH16(T) was isolated from a soil sample collected from the riverbank of Wusong river in Shanghai and characterized using a polyphasic approach. Morphological and chemotaxonomic properties of strain NEAU-SH16(T) were consistent with the description of the genus Catellatospora. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences demonstrated that strain NEAU-SH16(T) formed a distinct branch with the closest relatives Catellatospora coxensis DSM 44901(T) (99.2 %) and Catellatospora citrea DSM 44097(T) (99.0 %), an association that was supported by a bootstrap value of 78 % in the neighbour-joining tree and also recovered with the maximum-likelihood algorithm. However, the low level of DNA-DNA relatedness and some different physiological characteristics allowed the strain to be distinguished from its closest relatives. Thus, it is proposed that strain NEAU-SH16(T) represents a novel Catellatospora species. Catellatospora aurea sp. nov. The type strain of Catellatospora aurea is NEAU-SH16(T) (=CGMCC 4.7147(T) = DSM 46719(T)).