A Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium was isolated from the skin of the medical leech Hirudo verbana and studied for its taxonomic allocation. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities to other strains showed that the strain was closely related to species of the genus Kaistia. Kaistia geumhonensis was shown to be the most closely related species (96.8%), followed by Kaistia soli (96.6%) and Kaistia dalseonensis (96.2%). All other species of the genus Kaistia showed 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities