A novel actinobacterium, designated strain NEAU-TPG4T was isolated from rhizosphere soil of Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc. collected from Luobei, Heilongjiang Province, north China, and characterized using a polyphasic approach. Morphological and chemotaxonomic properties of strain NEAU-TPG4T were consistent with the description of the genus Dactylosporangium. The strain formed finger-shaped sporangia on short sporangiophores that emerged directly from substrate hyphae. The cell-wall peptidoglycan consisted of meso- and 3-hydroxy-diaminopimelic acids; arabinose, xylose and glucose were found as whole-cell sugars. The phospholipid profile contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol. The predominant menaquinones were identified as MK-9(H8) and MK-9(H6). The predominant cellular fatty acids were identified as iso-C16:0, anteiso-C15:0, anteiso-C17:0 and C18:0. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequences also indicated that the strain should be classified in the genus Dactylosporangium and showed that the closest relatives were Dactylosporangiummaewongense Japan Collection of Microorganism (JCM) 15933T (99.6 %), Dactylosporangiumsiamense NBRC 106093T (99.6 %), Dactylosporangiumaurantiacum JCM 3083T (99.5 %) and Dactylosporangiumluteum JCM 17685T (99.5 %). However, the low level of DNA–DNA relatedness and several cultural and physiological characteristics allowed the strain to be distinguished from its closest relatives. Thus, it is proposed that strain NEAU-TPG4T represents a novel Dactylosporangium species. Dactylosporangium cerinum sp. nov. The type strain of D. cerinum is NEAU-TPG4T (=CGMCC 4.7152T = DSM 46712T).