<jats:p>A cold-tolerant, yellow-pigmented, Gram-positive, motile, facultatively anaerobic bacterial strain, LI1<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>, was isolated from a moss-covered soil from Livingston Island, Antarctica, near the Bulgarian station St. Kliment Ohridski. Comparative 16S rRNA gene sequence-based phylogenetic analysis placed the strain in a clade with the species <jats:italic>Leifsonia kafniensis</jats:italic> KFC-22<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>, <jats:italic>Leifsonia pindariensis</jats:italic> PON10<jats:sup>T</jats:sup> and <jats:italic>Leifsonia antarctica</jats:italic> SPC-20<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>, with which it showed sequence similarities of 99.0, 97.9 and 97.9 %, respectively. DNA–DNA hybridization revealed a reassociation value of 2.7 % with <jats:italic>L. kafniensis</jats:italic> LMG 24362<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>. The DNA G+C content of strain LI1<jats:sup>T</jats:sup> was 64.5 mol%. The growth temperature range was −6 to 28 °C, with optimum growth at 16 °C. Growth occurred in 0–5 % NaCl and at pH 4.5–9.5, with optimum growth in 1–2 % NaCl and at pH 5.5–6.5. The predominant fatty acids were anteiso-C<jats:sub>15 : 0</jats:sub>, C<jats:sub>18 : 0</jats:sub> and iso-C<jats:sub>15 : 0</jats:sub>. The polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol. Physiological and biochemical tests clearly differentiated strain LI1<jats:sup>T</jats:sup> from <jats:italic>L. kafniensis</jats:italic>. Therefore, a novel cold-tolerant species within the genus <jats:italic>Leifsonia</jats:italic> is proposed: <jats:italic>Leifsonia psychrotolerans</jats:italic> sp. nov. (type strain LI1<jats:sup>T</jats:sup> = DSM 22824<jats:sup>T</jats:sup> = NCCB 100313<jats:sup>T</jats:sup>).</jats:p>