Abstract: This study is to investigate the diversity and community composition of archaea in the soil of Ebinur Lake Wetland. The clone library was constructed for the first time using the specific 16S rDNA primers of archaea with the samples of soil from the entrance of Bole River in Ebinur Lake Wetland. The targeted fragments were typed by amplified rDNA restriction analysis（ARDRA）using restriction endonuclease Afa I and Msp I. Positive clones randomly chosen from every spectral type were sequenced,and the phylogenetic tree of archaea 16S rDNA was constructed by sequence alignment. The results showed that 117 sequences gained from sequencing were classified into 61 operational taxonomic units（OTUs）. By aligning the sequences and phylogenetic analysis,they were classified into 2 divisions of Euryarchaeota and Thaumarchaeota. Halobacteriaceae of Euryarchaeota was the most dominant family including 10 genera such as Halomicrobium,Natronococcus,Halalkalicoccus etc.,which contained 48 OTUs（78.7%）and 77 positive clones（63.6%）. Conclusively,the diversity of archaea is abundant in the soil from the entrance of Bole River in Ebinur Lake Wetland and there should be a plentiful new unknown taxon in this environment.

Key words: the Ebinur Lake Wetland, the diversity of archaea, 16S rDNA gene clone library, ARDRA