Accepted by O. Seeman: 7 Mar. 2014; published: 8 Apr. 2014 ZOOTAXA ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Copyright © 2014 Magnolia Press Zootaxa 3786 (1): 091–098 www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ Article 91 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3786.1.8 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E2D2C598-A966-43C4-8235-590BA6F544AA The genus Emitrombidium Lombardini, 1949 (Actinotrichida: Trombidiidae) resurrected JOANNA MĄKOL 1, 3 & SEVGI SEVSAY 2 1 Institute of Biology, Department of Invertebrate Systematics and Ecology, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Kożuchowska 5B, 51-631 Wrocław, Poland. E-mail: joanna.makol@up.wroc.pl 2 Department of Biology, Science and Literature Faculty, Erzincan University, 24030, Erzincan, Turkey 3 Corresponding author Abstract Emitrombidium giocondi sp. nov., a second species of Emitrombidium is described based on postlarval forms originating from Turkey. The history of the genus is retraced. The previous conjectures about the uncertain family affiliation of Emitrombidium are clarified and the genus is reinstated as a member of Trombidiidae. Hitherto records suggest the Med- iterranean and Pontic distribution of the genus. Key words: Emitrombidium, Parasitengona, new species, postlarval forms, Turkey Introduction Emitrombidium was erected by Lombardini (1949) in order to accommodate one species, Emitrombidium variepilosum Lombardini, 1949, based on a single female collected in the botanical garden in Rome. No other findings of the genus, originally associated with Trombidiidae, have been announced since the original description. Superficial diagnoses provided by Lombardini (1949), both for the genus and species, have raised some doubts as to the family affiliation of the newly described taxa. The main doubts concerning the identity of Emitrombidium concerned the peculiar shape of the dorsal opisthosomal setae, not known in other genera of Trombidiidae, combined with the lack of characteristics of the pedipalp (Southcott 1986; Mąkol 2007). Robaux (1967) and Vercammen-Grandjean (1973) assigned Emitrombidium to Trombidiinae. Neither Robaux (1967) nor Vercammen- Grandjean (1973) provided any comments on the identity of the genus. Southcott (1986) placed Emitrombidium among taxa referred to as doubtful or excluded from Trombidiinae. Mąkol (2000), when cataloguing the Trombidiidae, regarded Emitrombidium and E. variepilosum as taxa incertae sedis. The quest for the type specimen of E. variepilosum, carried out by the senior author, failed. The type material of the taxa described by Lombardini is deposited in the Istituto Sperimentale per la Zoologia Agraria, Firenze, however no trace of E. variepilosum was found [Dr. Roberto Nannelli, pers. communication]. In view of the loss of the type specimen, the insufficient data contained in the original description, and the lack of any further records for more than half a century, Mąkol (2007) classified Emitrombidium Lombardini, 1949 as nomen dubium, and confirmed doubts concerning its affiliation with Trombidiidae. The genus was not mentioned in any of the inventories provided by Mąkol and Wohltmann (2012, 2013). Here we provide the results of the recent finding of representatives of Emitrombidium in Turkey. In order to support to the stability of nomenclature, we refrain from describing a new genus.