A Gram-positive, rod-shaped, endospore-forming organism, strain CCUG 47242T, was isolated from a sample of industrial starch production in Sweden. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis demonstrated that this isolate was moderately related to species of the genus Paenibacillus, with <94.4 % sequence similarity to all other hitherto described Paenibacillus species. Strain CCUG 47242T showed the greatest sequence similarity (96.5 %) to 'Paenibacillus hongkongensis' HKU3, a strain with a name that has not yet been validly published. Chemotaxonomic data [major menaquinone, MK-7 (98 %); major polar lipids, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, lysyl-phosphatidylglycerol, two unknown phospholipids, four unknown aminophospholipids; major fatty acids, iso-C16 : 0 and anteiso-C15 : 0] showed some significant differences when compared with the type species of the genus Paenibacillus, Paenibacillus polymyxa. Physiological and biochemical tests allowed clear phenotypic differentiation of strain CCUG 47242T from strain HKU3. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, in combination with chemotaxonomic data, strains CCUG 47242T and HKU3 represent two novel species of a new genus of endospore-forming bacteria for which we propose the names Cohnella thermotolerans gen. nov., sp. nov. (type strain CCUG 47242T = CIP 108492T = DSM 17683T) and Cohnella hongkongensis sp. nov. (type strain HKU3T = CCUG 49571T = CIP 107898T = DSM 17642T).