A novel actinomycete strain, designated YIM 45720(T), was isolated from a Cephalotaxus fortunei rhizophere soil sample collected from Yunnan Province, southwest China. The strain formed well-differentiated aerial and substrate mycelia. Chemotaxonomically, it contained LL-diaminopimelic acid in the cell wall. The cell-wall sugars contained ribose, mannose, and galactose with traces of glucose and xylose. Phospholipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylinositol. MK-9 (H(8)) was the predominant menaquinone. The major fatty acids (>10%) were iso-C(16:0), iso-C(15:1) and anteiso-C(15:0). The G + C content of the DNA was 70 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis data based on 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that strain YIM 45720(T) formed a distinct branch with the type strain of Streptomyces scabrisporus JCM 11712(T) within the genus Streptomyces. On the basis of the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, strain YIM 45720(T) (=DSM 41883(T) = CCTCC AA 206006(T)) is proposed as the type strain of a novel species, Streptomyces serianimatus sp. nov.