A Gram-reaction-negative, yellow-pigmented, non-spore-forming rod, aerobic, motile bacterium, designated SJY3T, was isolated from soil samples collected from a Pu-erh tea cellar in Bolian Pu-erh tea estate Co. Ltd. in Pu'er city, Yunnan, south-west China. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the isolate belonged to the genus
Massilia
. The closest phylogenetic relative was
Massilia arenae
CICC 24458T (99.5 %), followed by
M. timonae
CCUG45783T (97.9 %),
M. oculi
CCUG43427AT (97.8 %), and
M. aurea
DSM 18055T (97.8 %). The major fatty acids were C16 : 0 and C16 : 1
ω7c and/or C16 : 1
ω6c. The major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone Q-8 and the major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidylethanolamine. Genome sequencing revealed a genome size of 5.97 M bp and a G+C content of 65.4 mol%. Pairwise determined whole genome average nucleotide identity (gANI) values and digital DNA–DNA hybridization (dDDH) values were all below the threshold. Although the 16S rRNA gene similarity of stain SJY3T and
Massilia arenae
CICC 24458T was more than 99 %, the gANI, dDDH values and genomic tree clearly indicated that they were not of the same species. In summary, strain SJY3T represents a new species, for which we propose the name Massilia puerhi sp. nov. with the type strain SJY3T (=CGMCC 1.17158T=KCTC 82193T).