Strain KIT 00200-70066-1(T) was isolated from the sputum of a patient with pulmonary disease. Cells of the strain were Gram-variable, facultatively anaerobic, motile, spore-forming rods and formed colourless to white colonies on tryptic soy agar at 30 °C and pH 7. The pathogenicity of the strain is not known. The strain contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid in the cell-wall peptidoglycan, MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone, anteiso-C₁₅:₀, iso-C₁₆:₀ and C₁₆:₀ as the major fatty acids and diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine and several unknown lipids in the polar lipid profile. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the isolate belongs to the genus Paenibacillus, sharing the highest levels of sequence similarity with Paenibacillus nanensis MX2-3(T), Paenibacillus agaridevorans DSM 1355(T) and Paenibacillus alkaliterrae KSL-134(T) (95.4, 95.2 and 94.8 %, respectively), and that it occupied a distinct position within this genus. Combined phylogenetic and phenotypic data supported the conclusion that strain KIT 00200-70066-1(T) represents a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus sputi sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is KIT 00200-70066-1(T) (=KCTC 13252(T) =DSM 22699(T)).