An actinomycete, strain SNG49(T), was isolated from marine sediment of Abu Qir Bay, on the western seashore of Alexandria, Egypt. The bacterium was aerobic and Gram-positive. It produced beige to light-yellow aerial mycelium, brown substrate mycelium and straight to flexuous hyphae, but no specific spore chains. 16S rDNA sequence analysis and chemotaxonomic markers were consistent with classification of strain SNG49(T) in the genus Nocardiopsis, i.e. meso-diaminopimelic acid; no diagnostic sugars; phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylglycerol and diphosphatidylglycerol as polar lipids; menaquinones of the MK-10 series from MK-10(H(0)) to MK-10(H(8)); and iso/anteiso-branched and 10-methyl-branched fatty acids, the principal fatty acids being anteiso-17 : 0 and tuberculostearic acid. Nocardiopsis lucentensis and Nocardiopsis alba are the phylogenetic neighbours of strain SNG49(T), respectively showing 98.8 and 98.7 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity; however, moderate DNA-DNA reassociation values between these two species and strain SNG49(T) (44 and 60 %, respectively) showed that strain SNG49(T) could be clearly separated from them. These data, together with distinct physiological traits, led to the conclusion that this isolate represents a novel species within the genus Nocardiopsis, for which the name Nocardiopsis aegyptia is proposed. The type strain is SNG49(T) (=DSM 44442(T)=NRRL B-24244(T)).