Halophilic archaeal strain YC93T was isolated from Yuncheng salt lake in Shanxi,China.Cells of the strain were observed to be pleomorphic rods,stained Gram-negative and formed light red-pigmented colonies on agar plate.Strain YC93T was found to be able to grow at 25-50 ℃(optimum 37 ℃),at 1.4-4.8 M NaCl(optimum 2.0 M),at 0-1.0 M MgCl2(optimum 0.05 M)and at pH 6.0-9.5(optimum pH 7.0).The cells lysed in distilled water and the minimal NaCl concentration to prevent cell-lysis was found to be 8%(w/v).16S rRNA gene analysis revealed that strain YC93T had two dissimilar 16S rRNA genes and both of them were phylogenetically related to those of the current two members of Halorussus(93.0-95.3%similarities).The rpoBgene of strain YC93T were phylogenetically related to the corresponding gene of Halorussus rarusTBN4T(91.3%similarity)and Halorussus ruber YC25T(90.5%similarity).The major polar lipids were identified as phosphatidylglycerol,phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester,phosphatidylglycerol sulfate and five glycolipids chromatographically identical to those of Halorussus ratus CGMCC 1.10122T.The DNA G+C content of strain YC93T was determined to be 64.6 mol%.The phenotypic,chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic properties suggested that strain YC93T represents a new species of Halorussus,for which the name Halorussus amylolyticus sp.nov.is proposed.The type strain is strain YC93T(=CGMCC 1.12126T =JCM 18367T).