Bacterial strain VA15(T) was isolated from forest soil of the Changbai Mountains, Heilongjiang Province, China. Cells of strain VA15(T) were Gram-positive-staining, 0.2-0.3 mum in diameter and 0.3-1.0 mum long, strictly aerobic, non-motile and rod-shaped or coccoid. Growth occurred at 16-34 degrees C (optimum, 29 degrees C), at pH 5.5-8.5 (optimum, pH 6.2-6.5) and in the presence of 0-1 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0-0.25 %). Strain VA15(T) contained MK-8(H(4)) as the major respiratory quinone and ll-2,6-diaminopimelic acid as the cell-wall diamino acid. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C(16 : 0) (18.1 % of the total), 10-methyl C(18 : 0) (11.8 %) and 10-methyl C(17 : 0) (10.7 %). The DNA G+C content of strain VA15(T) was 71.6 mol% (T(m)). 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis indicated that strain VA15(T) was phylogenetically related to members of the genus Nocardioides; levels of similarity to the type strains of recognized Nocardioides species ranged from 92.9 to 97.7 %. Levels of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain VA15(T) and its closest phylogenetic relatives, Nocardioides panacihumi DSM 18660(T) and Nocardioides marinus DSM 18248(T), were 21 and 16 %, respectively. Based on these results, it is concluded that strain VA15(T) represents a novel species of the genus Nocardioides, for which the name Nocardioides terrae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is VA15(T) (=CGMCC 1.7056(T) =NBRC 104259(T)).