A Gram-reaction-negative, aerobic, motile by one polar flagellum, yellow-pigmented, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain THG-B117(T), was isolated from soil of a cornus fruit field of Hoengseong province in South Korea and its taxonomic position was investigated by a polyphasic study. Strain THG-B117(T) grew well at 25-30 °C and at pH 6.0-8.0 in the absence of NaCl on nutrient agar. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain THG-B117(T) was shown to belong to the family Xanthomonadaceae and be related to Dyella japonica XD53(T) (98.7 % similarity), Dyella terrae JS14-6(T) (98.0 %), Dyella koreensis BB4(T) (96.9 %), Dyella soli JS12-10(T) (96.9 %) and Dyella thiooxydans ATSB10(T) (96.7 %). DNA-DNA hybridization experiments showed that DNA relatedness between strain THG-B117(T) and its phylogenetically closest neighbours was below 45.1 %. The G+C content of the genomic DNA of strain THG-B117(T) was 64.8 mol%. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, unidentified aminolipids, unidentified aminophospholipids and unidentified phospholipids. Phenotypic and chemotaxonomic data (major ubiquinone was Q-8, and major fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0, iso-C17 : 0 and iso-C17 : 1ω9c) supported the affiliation of strain THG-B117(T) with the genus Dyella. The results of physiological and biochemical tests suggested that strain THG-B117(T) was different genotypically and phenotypically from recognized species of the genus Dyella, and represents a novel species of this genus. The name Dyella kyungheensis sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain THG-B117(T) ( = KACC 16981(T) = JCM 18747(T)).