A novel actinobacterial strain, designated strain NEAU-JM2T, was isolated from volcanic sediment collected from Longwan, Jilin province, north China and characterized using a polyphasic approach. The strain was found to have morphological and chemotaxonomic characteristics typical of the members of the genus Micromonospora. Phylogenetic analysis of the16S rRNA gene sequence also indicated that strain NEAU-JM2T should be classified in the genus Micromonospora and showed that close relatives are Micromonospora maoerensis NEAU-MES19T (99.5 %) and Micromonospora matsumotoense JCM 9104T (98.8 %). However, phylogenetic analysis based on the gyrB gene sequence showed that the isolate forms a separate subclade away from the close relatives in the neighbour-joining tree and also recovered with the maximum-likelihood algorithm. The low level of DNA–DNA relatedness allowed the isolate to be differentiated from M. maoerensis NEAU-MES19T and M. matsumotoense JCM 9104T. Furthermore, strain NEAU-JM2T could also be distinguished from its close phylogenetic relatives by cultural and physiological characteristics. Therefore, it is proposed that strain NEAU-JM2T represents a novel species of the genus Micromonospora, for which the name Micromonospora vulcania sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NEAU-JM2T (=CGMCC 4.7144T = DSM 46711T).