A Gram-negative, non-motile, catalase-positive and oxidase-positive, aerobic bacterium designated as NII-0918 sup(T) was isolated from soil sample in Western ghat forest, India. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain NII-0918 sup(T) belongs to the subclass alpha-Proteobacteria, being related to the genus Paracoccus, and sharing highest sequence similarity with Paracoccus chinensis NBRC 104937 sup(T) (99.4%), Paracoccus marinus NBRC 100640 sup(T) (97.3%), Paracoccus koreensis Ch05 sup(T) (97.1%) and Paracoccus kondratievae GB sup(T) (97.0%). Other members of Paracoccus showed below 97.0% similarity. The DNA-DNA hybridization values between these four strains and NII-0918 sup(T) were 44.7, 28, 32 and 41%, respectively. The major fatty acids of strain NII-0918 sup(T) were summed feature 7 (C18:1 ω7c/ω 9t/ω 12t) (83.0%) and C18:0 (12.5%). Ubiquinone Q-10 was detected as the major respiratory quinone. The G+C content of genomic DNA of NII-0918 sup(T) was 66.6 mol%. On the basis of physiological, morphological, chemotaxonomical and DNA-DNA hybridization data, it is proposed that strain NII-0918 sup(T) should be placed as a novel species, for which we propose Paracoccus niistensis sp. nov. The type strain is NII-0918 sup(T) (CCTCC AA 209055 sup(T) = NCIM 5340 sup(T) = KCTC 22789 sup(T))