A sulfate-reducing bacterium, strain HDvT (T = type strain), was isolated from an anoxic ricefield soil. Cells were Gram-negative, non-sporulating curved rods motile by means of a single polar flagellum. Cytochrome c3 and desulfoviridin were present. In the presence of sulfate, glycerol, 1,2- and 1,3-propanediol, dihydroxyacetone, pyruvate, lactate, fumarate, maleate, malate and succinate were incompletely oxidized mainly to acetate. Sulfite, thiosulfate, elemental sulfur, fumarate, maleate and malate were utilized as alternative electron acceptors. In the absence of added electron acceptors, pyruvate, fumarate, maleate, malate and dihydroxyacetone were fermented. The DNA base composition was 67 mol% G + C. The phylogenetic, phenotypic and physiological characteristics of strain HDvT indicate that it is a new species of the genus Desulfovibrio, for which the name Desulfovibrio burkinensis sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is HDvT (= DSM 6830T). Phylogenetic analysis confirmed that Desulfovibrio alcoholivorans was a distinct species supporting the previously published phenotypic data.