A virus causing vein banding, sometimes yellow mosaic and rugose symptoms on peanut was prevalent around Suwon, Korea. A survey conducted in the area found disease incidence, depending on cultivar, to range from 79 to 100%. The virus was found to be seed-transmissible in all the five peanut cultivars tested with transmission rates ranging from 2 to 16%. Host range analysis failed to differentiate 9 field isolates collected from different peanuts cultivars showing various symptoms. Inclusion bodies such as scroll, pinwheel and long laminated aggregates induced by the virus in host plant cells were similar to those induced by members of the Potyvirus subdivision III. The virus showed < 95% homology with Bean common mosaic virus (BCMV), BCMV-BICMV/AzMV strains and only < 91% with Desmodium mosaic virus. Based on biological characterization, electron microscopy and molecular analyses of a Korean isolate (Daewon 1), the virus was identified as peanut stripe strain of BCMV.