A Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped bacterial strain, SYSU D60014T, was isolated from a sandy soil sample collected from the Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang, PR China. Colonies of SYSU D60014T were pink-coloured, crystalline, irregular edge with a rough surface. Phylogenetic analyses based on both the 16S rRNA gene and whole-genome sequences assigned strain SYSU D60014T belonged to the family Rhodospirillaceae, formed a distinct lineage and showed 92.5–91.0% similarity to closely related strains. Digital DNA–DNA hybridization, average nucleotide identity and average amino acid identity values between strain SYSU D60014T and members of its related species were 17.2–19.6%, 70.8–74.4% and 48.9–64.5%, respectively. The complete genome of strain SYSU D60014T was 5,100,926 bp with a DNA G+C content of 65.1%. Cells were oxidase-positive and catalase-negative. The strain could grow at 28–40 °C (optimum, 37 °C), pH 5.0–8.0 (optimum, pH 7.0), and in the presence of up to 3% NaCl (optimum, 1–1.5%, w/v) on R2A. The predominant menaquinone was Q-10. The main polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylmethyl ethanolamine, diphosphatidylglycerol, unidentified aminophospholipid, unidentified aminolipid, unidentified phospholipid, four unidentified polar lipids and two unidentified phosphoglycolipids. Major cellular fatty acids were C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c, summed feature 8 (C18 : 1
ω7c and/or C18 : 1
ω6c) and C16 : 0. Based on the results obtained through genotypic and phenotypic analyses, we propose that strain SYSU D60014T represents a novel species and genus within the family Rhodospirillaceae, for which we propose the name Virgifigura deserti gen. nov., sp. nov. (type strain SYSU D60014T=NBRC 112951T=CPCC 101030T).