Through enrichment on two nutrient agars, 57 Thermus isolates were recovered from 15 hot spring samples taken from the Rehai geothermal area, Tengchong, China. Unique growth characteristics were observed when the strains were transferred from YIM14 medium to Thermus medium. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the 16S rDNA sequences of the isolates and clones from the Rehai geothermal area formed a monophyletic group on the phylogenetic tree. A secondary structure comparison showed that their 16S rRNAs have unique secondary structure characteristics.