A Gram-variable, spore-forming, motile rod, designated strain Y1^T, was isolated from the hopper surface of equipment used for soy sauce production. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that Y1^T is affiliated phylogenetically to the genus Sporosarcina, and the strain showed sequence similarities of 95.8-99.2% to those of Sporosarcina species with validly published names. The values of DNA-DNA relatedness between strain Y1^T and related type strains of the genus Sporosarcina were below 27%. The major cellular fatty acids were iso-C_15:0 and anteiso-C_15:0. The cell-wall peptidoglycan was of the A4α type (Lys-Glu) and the major isoprenoid quinone was MK-7. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidylethanolamine. The genomic DNA G+C content of the strain was 43.6 mol%. On the basis of phylogenetic analysis and physiological and chemotaxonomic data, the isolate represents a novel species of the genus Sporosarcina, for which the name Sporosarcina luteola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is strain Y1^T (=JCM 15791^T=NRRL B-59180^T=NBRC 105378^T=CIP 109917^T=NCIMB 14541^T).