Strain BUT-14(T), a Gram-reaction-negative, non-spore-forming, ellipse-shaped bacterium, was isolated from activated sludge of a chloroacetamide-herbicides-manufacturing wastewater treatment facility. The strain was able to degrade more than 90% of butachlor, acetochlor and alachlor (100 mg l(-1)) within 5 days of incubation. The taxonomic position was investigated using a polyphasic approach. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain BUT-14(T) was a member of the genus Novosphingobium and showed the highest sequence similarities to Novosphingobium soli DSM 22821(T) (97.9%), N. naphthalenivorans KACC 15258(T) (97.4%), N. pentaromativorans JCM 12182(T) (97.4%) and N. barchaimii DSM 25411(T) (97.1%) and lower (<97%) sequence similarities to all other species of the genus Novosphingobium. Chemotaxonomic analysis revealed that strain BUT-14(T) possessed Q-10 as the predominant ubiquinone, spermidine as the major polyamine and C(18 : 1)�s7c (46.9%), C(17 : 1)�s6c (17.9%), summed feature 3, C(14 : 0) 2-OH (4.4%), C(15 : 0) 2-OH (3.1%) and C(16 : 0) (5.51%) as the major fatty acids. The polar lipids included lipid, glycolipid, phosphatidylglycerol, phospholipid, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, sphingoglycolipid and phospatidyldimethylethanolamine. Strain BUT-14(T) showed low DNA-DNA relatedness with N. soli DSM 22821(T) (41.5��2.9%), N. naphthalenivorans JCM 12182(T) (49.2��4.2%), N. pentaromativorans KACC 12295(T) (53.2��1.9%) and N. barchaimii DSM 25411 (51.2��4.5%). The DNA G+C content was 66��0.3 mol%. The combination of phylogenetic analysis, phenotypic characteristics, chemotaxonomic data and DNA-DNA hybridization supports the suggestion that strain BUT-14(T) represents a novel species of the genus Novosphingobium, for which the name Novosphingobium chloroacetimidivorans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BUT-14(T) (= CCTCC AB 2013086(T) = KACC 17147(T) = JCM 19923(T)).