An isolate from Cerrado soil, provisionally assigned to the genus Nocardia, was shown to have chemical and morphological properties typical of nocardiae. The strain formed a distinct monophyletic clade in the 16S rDNA tree together with Nocardia africana, Nocardia vaccinii and Nocardia veterana, and showed a unique combination of phenotypic properties that distinguished it from representatives of all recognized species of Nocardia. DNA-DNA relatedness studies indicated that the isolate belongs to a genomic species that is readily distinguished from its nearest neighbours, the type strains of N. africana and N. veterana. The organism is considered to merit species status, and it is proposed that it be designated Nocardia cerradoensis sp. nov., with strain YgT (=CCT 5601T =DSM 44546T) as the type strain.