A novel carbendazim-degrading actinobacterium, designated djl-6-2(T), was isolated from the sludge of a carbendazim wastewater treatment facility in Jiangsu province, China. The morphological and chemotaxonomic properties of the isolate were typical of members of the genus Rhodococcus. Strain djl-6-2(T) formed a coherent cluster with Rhodococcus qingshengii djl-6(T), Rhodococcus baikonurensis DSM 44587(T), Rhodococcus erythropolis DSM 43066(T) and Rhodococcus globerulus DSM 43954(T) in 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The results of DNA-DNA hybridization with the above strains (27.7, 19.3, 18.6 and 10.6 % relatedness, respectively), in combination with differences in biochemical and physiological properties, suggest that strain djl-6-2(T) should be classified within a novel species of the genus Rhodococcus, for which the name Rhodococcus jialingiae sp. nov. is proposed, with djl-6-2(T) (=DSM 45257(T) =CCTCC AB 208292(T)) as the type strain.