Two novel aerobic, gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterial strains designated strains REN5(T) and REN5-1, were isolated from pit mud of Baijiu in Sichuan province, China. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, both strains belonged to the genus Sphingomonas. Strains REN5(T) and REN5-1 showed the highest similarity with S. aquatilis (97.9-98.0%). The DNA G+C content of REN5(T) and REN5-1 were 67.62 and 67.57 mol %, respectively. The DNA-DNA relatedness values between strains REN5(T) and S. aquatilis, REN5-1 and S. aquatilis were 22.8 and 22.6%, respectively. The main isoprenoid quinone of REN5(T) was Q-10, the major fatty acids were C-18:1 omega 7c, C-16:0 and C-14:0 2-OH, and the main are polar lipids were DPG (diphosphatidylglycerol), SGL (sphingoglycolipid), PG (phosphatidylglycerol), PC (phosphatidylcholine), PE (phosphatidylethanolamine), UPL (unidentified phospholipid) and UL (unidentified polar lipid). The polyphasic taxonomic data showed that strains REN5(T) and REN5-1 represented a novel species within the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas beigongshangi sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain REN5(T) (=GDMCC1.2211(T) = JCM 34404(T)).