The taxonomic position of a Gram-stain-positive, aerobic strain, designated 03-9939(T), isolated from a soil sample collected from Xinjiang Province, China, was established using a polyphasic approach. Whole-cell hydrolysates of strain 03-9939(T) contained galactose and ribose as diagnostic sugars and meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diamino acid. The predominant menaquinone was MK-9(H4). The phospholipids consisted of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine. The major fatty acids were iso-C(16 : 0) (61.5 %) and iso-C(16 : 1) H (11.6 %). The genomic DNA G+C content was 68.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain 03-9939(T) should be placed within the family Actinosynnemataceae, in which the strain formed a distinct lineage. Signature nucleotides in the 16S rRNA gene sequence showed that the strain contained a genus-specific diagnostic nucleotide signature pattern. The combination of phylogenetic analysis, phenotypic characteristics and chemotaxonomic data supported the conclusion that strain 03-9939(T) represents a novel species in a new genus of the family Actinosynnemataceae, for which the name Alloactinosynnema album gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. Strain 03-9939(T) (=DSM 45114(T) =KCTC 19294(T) =CCM 7461(T)) is the type strain of Alloactinosynnema album.