A yellow-coloured, Gram-stain-positive, motile, aerobic and rod-shaped bacteria, designated DKR-3T, was isolated from oil-contaminated experimental soil. Strain DKR-3T could grow at pH 5.0–10.5 (optimum, pH 7.0–8.5), at 10–40 °C (optimum, 25–32 °C) and tolerated 3.5 % of NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on its 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain DKR-3T formed a lineage within the family
Cellulomonadaceae
and was clustered with members of the genus
Cellulomonas
. Strain DKR-3T had highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to
Cellulomonas gelida
DSM 20111T (98.3 %),
Cellulomonas persica
JCM 18111T (98.2 %) and
Cellulomonas uda
DSM 20107T (97.8 %). The predominant respiratory quinone was tetrahydrogenated menaquinone with nine isoprene units [MK-9(H4)]. The principal cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0, C16 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol. The cell-wall diamino acid was l-ornithine whereas rhamnose and glucose were the cell-wall sugars. The DNA G+C content was 74.2mol %. The genome of strain DKR-3T was 3.74 Mb and contained three putative biosynthetic gene clusters. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA–DNA hybridization relatedness values between strain DKR-3T and its phylogenetically related members were below the species threshold values. Based on a polyphasic study, strain DKR-3T represents a novel species belonging to the genus
Cellulomonas
, for which the name Cellulomonas fulva sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is DKR-3T (=KACC 22071T=NBRC 114730T).