Three ionizing-radiation-resistant bacterial strains (designated KR-196, KR-198 and KR-200^T) were isolated from a sample of arid soil collected from a coastal desert in Chile. The soil sample was irradiated before serial dilution plating was performed using one-tenth-strength plate count agar. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequences showed these organisms to represent a novel species of the genus Deinococcus, having sequence similarities of 87.3–90.8 % with respect to recognized Deinococcus species. Strains KR-196, KR-198 and KR-200^T were aerobic and showed optimum growth at 30 °C and pH 6.5–8.0. The major respiratory menaquinone was MK-8. The predominant fatty acids in these strains were 16 : 1ω7c, 16 : 0, 15 : 1ω6c, 17 : 0 and 18 : 0. The DNA G+C content of strain KR-200^T was 63.9 mol%. Strains KR-196, KR-198 and KR-200^T were found to be resistant to >10 kGy gamma radiation. On the basis of the phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic data, strain KR-200^T represents a novel species of the genus Deinococcus, for which the name Deinococcus peraridilitoris sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KR-200^T (=LMG 22246^T=CIP 109416^T).