Strain TL 2(T) was isolated on mineral medium with thiosulfate from a near-shore sulfidic hydrothermal area in Matupi Harbour on the island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea. The cells varied from long filaments with swollen ends, often aggregated, to short rods, depending on the growth conditions. The bacterium was obligately aerobic and grew autotrophically with thiosulfate as energy source or heterotrophically with organic acids and sugars. In thiosulfate-limited continuous culture, mu(max) and Y(max) for autotrophic growth were 0.1 h(-1) and 3 g protein mol(-1), respectively. From the various reduced sulfur compounds tested, only thiosulfate and sulfide supported active respiration. Inorganic carbon was assimilated via the Calvin cycle. Presence of the 'green'-type of form I RubisCO gene was detected. Growth was possible from 15 to 47 degrees C with an optimum at 35 degrees C, pH 6.5-8.5 with an optimum at pH 8.0, and between 10 and 90 g NaCl l(-1) with an optimum at 35 g l(-1). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA and cbbL gene sequences demonstrated that strain TL 2(T) forms a separate lineage within the alpha-3 subdivision of the Proteobacteria, distantly related to the genera Rhodovulum and Rhodobacter. On the basis of these results, a novel genus and species, Thioclava pacifica gen. nov., sp. nov., is proposed to accommodate strain TL 2(T) (= DSM 10166(T) = UNIQEM 229(T)).