A catalase-negative actinomycete, strain YIM 21741T, was isolated from a soil sample collected from a primeval forest at Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province, China. Analysis of 16S rDNA showed the strain to be related to members of the genus Agromyces, with which it also shares morphological characteristics, e.g. branching hyphae breaking into diphtheroid and rod-like, irregular, non-motile fragments and a peptidoglycan containing the diagnostic amino acid 2,4-diamino-n-butyric acid. Whole-cell hydrolysates of strain YIM 21741T contained rhamnose and small quantities of glucose, galactose and mannose. The major menaquinone was MK-12, while MK-13 and MK-12 were minor components. Diagnostic phospholipids were phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. The G+C content of the DNA was 72