Psychrophilic bacterial strains were isolated from alpine glaciers in Switzerland and characterized taxonomically. On the basis of phylogenetic analysis of partial 16S rRNA and rpoB genes, three of those strains, strain 79 (=CCOS 247), strain 4/58 (=CCOS 250) and strain 4/56 (=CCOS 258) clustered together with strain Cr9-12^T and separately from the type strains Glaciimonas immobilis Cr9-30^T and Glaciimonas singularis LMG 27070^T. Strain Cr9-12_T has been previously described as a strain of G. immobilis. The three newly isolated strains were compared phenotypically with strain Cr9-12^T and with the type strains of the species G. immobilis and G. singularis. Cr9-12^T and the three novel strains from an alpine glacier in Switzerland were Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, rod-shaped and psychrophilic and showed good growth throughout a temperature range of 1-20 °C and characteristically oxidized D-mannitol, L-fucose and bromosuccinic acid. The predominant cellular fatty acids of strain Cr9-12^T and the three novel strains were summed feature 3 (C_6:1ώ7c and/or iso-C_15:0 2_OH), C_16:0 and C_18:1ώ7c. The respiratory quinone of these strains was ubiquinone 8 (UQ-8). The genomic DNA G+C content of Cr9-12^T was 49.2 mol%. The combined data from phenotypic, phylogenetic and DNA-DNA relatedness studies strongly support the reclassification of strain Cr9-12^T as representing a novel species. This strain and the isolates 79 (=CCOS 247), 4/58 (=CCOS 250) and 4/56 (=CCOS 258) are representatives of a novel species of the genus Glaciimonas, for which the name Glaciimonas alpina sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Glaciimonas alpina is Cr9-12^T (=CCOS 761^T=DSM 22814^T).