A Gram-positive-staining bacterium, designated Y16(T), was isolated from a soil sample from Yunnan Province, China. The isolate grew optimally at 25-30 °C, grew at pH 6.0-9.0 and could grow with 3 % NaCl. Strain Y16(T) had cell-wall peptidoglycan based on meso-diaminopimelic acid. The predominant menaquinones were MK-9(H(4)) and MK-9(H(2)). The major fatty acid methyl esters were anteiso-C(15 : 0), iso-C(15 : 0), anteiso-C(17 : 0) and C(16 : 0). These chemotaxonomic characteristics suggested that the organism belonged to the genus Actinoplanes. Strain Y16(T) shared 98.7, 98.3 and 97.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with Actinoplanes deccanensis IFO 13994(T), A. abujensis A4029(T) and A. brasiliensis DSM 43805(T), respectively. The DNA G+C content of the isolate was 70.8 mol%. DNA-DNA relatedness between the novel isolate and the type strains of A. deccanensis, A. abujensis and A. brasiliensis was 35.2, 32.0 and 22.3 %, respectively. In addition, the pattern of phenotypic properties distinguished strain Y16(T) from its closest phylogenetic neighbours. It is therefore concluded that strain Y16(T) ( = CGMCC 4.6857(T) = JCM 17700(T)) represents a novel species of the genus Actinoplanes, for which the name Actinoplanes atraurantiacus sp. nov. is proposed.