Two novel halophilic archaeal strains (XZGYJ-43 and ZJ1 ) were isolated from Mangkang ancient solar saltern (Tibet, PR China) and Zhujiang river inlet (Guangdong, PR China), respectively. The comparison of the 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain XZGYJ-43 is related to the current species of the family (89.2-91.7% similarity) and strain ZJ1 showed 94.7-98.3% similarity to the current species of the genus . Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA genes, ' genes and genomes indicated that strain XZGYJ-43 is separate from the related genera, , and of the family , and strain ZJ1 tightly clusters with the current species of the genus . The average nucleotide identity, digital DNA-DNA hybridization and average amino acid identity values between strain XZGYJ-43 and the current species of the family were 71-75, 20-25 and 59-68 %, and these values between strain ZJ1 and the current species of the genus were 77-81, 27-32 and 76-82 %, respectively, clearly below the thresholds for prokaryotic species demarcation. These two strains could be distinguished from their relatives according to differential phenotypic characteristics. The major polar lipids of strain XZGYJ-43 were phosphatidic acid (PA), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester (PGP-Me), mannosyl glucosyl diether (DGD-1; DGD-PA) and sulphated mannosyl glucosyl diether (S-DGD-1; S-DGD-PA), and those of strain ZJ1 were PA, PG, PGP-Me, DGD-PA, S-DGD-1 (S-DGD-PA) and sulphated galactosyl mannosyl glucosyl diether. Based on phenotypic, phylogenetic and genomic data, strain XZGYJ-43 (=CGMCC 1.13890 =JCM 33735 ) represents a novel species of a new genus within the family , and strain ZJ1 (=CGMCC 1.18785 =JCM 34917 ) represents a novel species of the genus , for which the names gen. nov., sp. nov. and sp. nov. are proposed, respectively.