A novel fungal strain JAS4 was isolated from agricultural soil and was found to be highly effective in degrading chlorpyrifos and its major degradation product 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCP). The molecular characterization based on 18S rRNA sequence analysis, revealed strain JAS4 as Ganoderma sp. which could able to degrade chlorpyrifos and its metabolite in an aqueous medium with rate constant of 0.8460 day-1, following first order rate kinetics, and the time in which the initial insecticide concentration was reduced by 50% (DT50) was 0.81 days. Studies on biodegradation in soil with nutrients showed that JAS4 strain exhibited efficient degradation of insecticide with a rate constant of 0.9 day-1, and DT50 was 0.73 day. In contrast, degradation of insecticide in soil without nutrients was characterized by a rate constant of 0.7576 day-1 and the DT50 was 0.91 day. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.