Three yellow-pigmented, Gram-negative, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacterial strains, C36T, C37 and C39, were isolated in the Medical Clinic for Small Animals and Ungulates at the University for Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain C36T was shown to belong to the genus Pseudomonas; Pseudomonas oleovorans DSM 1045T was the nearest relative (99.5 % sequence similarity). Other Pseudomonas species shared <97 % sequence similarity with strain C36T. The presence of Q-9 as the major ubiquinone, the predominance of putrescine and spermidine in its polyamine patterns and its fatty acid profile [i.e. the predominance of C(16 : 0), summed feature 3 (C(16 : 1)omega7c and/or 2-OH C(15 : 0) iso), C(18 : 1)omega7c and the presence of 3-OH C(10 : 0), 3-OH C(12 : 0) and 2-OH C(12 : 0)] were in agreement with identification of this strain as a member of the genus Pseudomonas. Physiological and biochemical characteristics and the results of genomic fingerprinting clearly differentiated strain C36T from its phylogenetic relative P. oleovorans DSM 1045T. Results from DNA-DNA hybridization showed that strain C36T represents a species that is distinct from P. oleovorans DSM 1045T. These data demonstrate that strain C36T represents a novel species of the genus Pseudomonas, for which the name Pseudomonas psychrotolerans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is C36T (= LMG 21977T = DSM 15758T). Additionally, physiological, biochemical, chemotaxonomic and genomic fingerprints indicate that P. oleovorans ATCC 29347 may not be a member of the species P. oleovorans sensu stricto.