A species diversity study of lactic acid bacteria occurring in traditional Vietnamese nem chua yielded an isolate, LMG 26767(T), that could not be assigned to a species with a validly published name. The isolate was initially investigated by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, which revealed that it belonged to the genus Lactobacillus, with Lactobacillus manihotivorans and Lactobacillus camelliae as the closest relatives (98.9 % and 96.9 % gene sequence similarity to the type strains, respectively). Comparative (GTG)5-PCR genomic fingerprinting confirmed the unique taxonomic status of the novel strain. DNA-DNA hybridization experiments, DNA G+C content determination, sequence analysis of the phenylalanyl-tRNA synthase (pheS) gene, and physiological and biochemical characterization demonstrated that strain LMG 26767(T) represents a novel species, for which the name Lactobacillus porcinae sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is LMG 26767(T) ( = CCUG 62266(T)). Biochemically, L. porcinae can be distinguished from L. manihotivorans and L. camelliae by its carbohydrate fermentation profile, absence of growth at 45 °C, and production of d- and l-lactate as end products of glucose metabolism.