A novel Gram-staining-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped, non-motile, yellow bacterium designated strain KD53(T), was isolated from a culture of the alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum from Xiamen, Fujian Province, China. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison showed that strain KD53(T) was a member of the Roseobacter clade within the family Rhodobacteraceae , forming a distinct lineage with species of the genus Mameliella . The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities between strain KD53(T) and other strains examined were all less than 97.0%. Strain KD53(T) was found to grow optimally at 28 °C, at pH 7.5-8.0 and in the presence of 3% (w/v) NaCl. The dominant fatty acids of strain KD53(T) were C18 : 1ω6c and/or C18 : 1ω7c, C18 : 0 and C16 : 0. The major polar lipids were phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylglycerol. The DNA G+C content was 65 mol% and the major respiratory quinone was ubiquinone 10 (Q-10). On the basis of phenotypic data and phylogenetic inference, strain KD53(T) represents a novel member of the genus Mameliella , then the name Mameliella phaeodactyli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KD53(T) ( =MCCC 1K00273(T) =KCTC 42178(T)).