A novel actinomycete, strain SR2-123(T), belonging to the genus Streptomyces, was isolated from a soil sample collected from the Sakaerat Environmental Research Station, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand. The taxonomic position of the strain was characterized using a polyphasic study. Strain SR2-123(T) contained LL-diaminopimelic acid, glucose, mannose and ribose in whole-cell hydrolysates. The N-acyl type of muramic acid was acetyl. Menaquinones were MK-9(H-6), MK-9(H-8) and MK-9(H-4). The predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C-15:0, anteiso-C-15:0, isoC(16:0), anteiso-C-17:0 and iso-C-17:0. The major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, an unknown phospholipid, unknown glycolipids, an unknown aminophospholipid, unknown lipids and an unknown aminolipid. The DNA G+C content was 74.8 mol%. The strain was closely related to Streptomyces coeruleorubidus JCM 4359(T) (98.5 %), Streptomyces flavofungini JCM 4753(T) (98.5 %), Streptomyces coerulescens NBRC 12758(T) (98. 5 %) and Streptomyces alboflavus JCM 4615(T) (98.4 %), based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities. The novel strain exhibited low DNA-DNA relatedness values with the type strains (11.4-25.0 %) of closely related species. On the basis of phenotypic and genotypic characteristics, strain SR2-123(T) could be distinguished from closely related species of the genus Streptomyces and represents a novel species of the genus Streptomyces for which the name Streptomyces xylanilyticus sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is SR2-123(T) (=TISTR 2493(T) = KCTC 39909(T)).