A novel Gram-stain-negative, small rod-shaped, motile strain, designated M1T, was isolated from hydrocarbon-contaminated desert sands collected from Kuwait. M1T grew at 12-45 °C, pH 6.1-8.8 and 0-4.5 % (w/v) NaCl concentration. Casein, Tween-20 and Tween-80 were hydrolyzed while starch, urea, chitin, DNA and carboxymethyl-cellulose were not hydrolyzed by M1T. C18 : 1ω6c/C18 : 1ω7c, C16 : 0 and C12 : 0 aldehyde were predominant fatty acids with minor amounts of iso-C16 : 1I/C14 : 0 3-OH, C16 : 0 3-OH, C18 : 0, C16 : 1ω6c/C16 : 1ω7c, C16 : 1ω11c and C18 : 1ω9c. Diphosphatidylglycerol (DPG), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) were the major polar lipids. Minor amounts of unidentified aminolipids (AL1-2), unidentified phospholipids (PL1-2) and unidentified lipids (L1-4) were also detected. Genomic G+C content was 69.5 mol%. Comparisons of 16S rRNA gene sequence indicate that M1T represent a member of the genus Skermanella in the family Rhodospirillaceae of the class Alphaproteobacteria. M1T has a sequence similarity of 97.5 % with Skermanella aerolata 5416T-32T, 96.7 % with Skermanella stibiiresistens SB22T and <95.7 % with the other two species of the genus Skermanella. DNA-DNA hybridization values between M1T and the type strains of the most closely related species were clearly below the 70 % threshold. Distinct morphological, physiological and genotypic differences from the previously described taxa support the classification of strain M1T as a representative of a novel species in the genus Skermanella, for which the name Skermanella rosea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is M1T (=KEMB 2255-458T=JCM 31276T).