A novel anaerobic bacterial strain, ST07-YET, was isolated from a carbonate chimney of the Prony Hydrothermal Field (PHF) in New Caledonia. Cells were Gram-stain-positive, straight rods (0.7-0.8 x 3.0-5.0 mu m) and motile by means of lateral flagella. Strain ST07-YET was mesophilic (optimum 35 degrees C), moderately alkaliphilic and halotolerant (optimum pH 8.7 and 5 gr l(-1) NaCl). Elemental sulfur, sulfate, thiosulfate, sulfite, nitrate and nitrite were not used as terminal electron acceptors. Yeast extract, peptone, tryptone, Casamino acids, crotonate, pyruvate, galactose, maltose, sucrose, ribose, trehalose and glucose were used as carbon sources. Glucose fermentation led to acetate, H-2 and CO2 formation. Arginine, serine, histidine, lysine, methionine and cysteine improved growth, but the Stickland reaction was negative for the combinations of amino acids tested. The major metabolic products from yeast extract fermentation were H-2, CO2, acetate, butyrate, isobutyrate, isovalerate and propionate. The predominant cellular fatty acids were C-16:0, C(16:1)cis9, C-14: 0 and C(16:1)cis7 (>5 % of total fatty acids). The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 32.9 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that strain ST07-YET was most closely related to Clostridium sticklandii DSM 519(T) and Acetoanaerobium noterae NOT-3(T) (96.7 % and 96.8 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, respectively). On the basis of phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and physiological properties, strain ST07-YET is proposed to represent a novel species of the genus Acetoanaerobium (order Clostridiales, phylum Firmicutes) with the name Acetoanaerobium pronyense sp. nov. The type strain is ST07-YET (=DSM 27512(T)=JCM 19400(T)).