A strictly aerobic, Gram-staining-negative, oxidase- and catalase-positive, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated strain 5416T-29(T), was isolated from air and was characterized by using a polyphasic approach. Colonies were reddish pink and circular with entire margins. Flexirubin-type pigments were absent. The strain formed a distinct phylogenetic lineage within the family Cytophagaceae of the phylum Bacteroidetes. Strain 5416T-29(T) did not show more than 88 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to the type strain of any recognized species. The major cellular fatty acids were C(16 : 1)omega5c, iso-C(17 : 0) 3-OH and iso-C(15 : 0). The polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, one unknown amino lipid and several unknown polar lipids. Menaquinone-7 (MK-7) was the major respiratory quinone. The G+C content of the DNA of strain 5416T-29(T) was 45.5 mol%. Results of phenotypic and phylogenetic analyses clearly indicate that strain 5416T-29(T) represents a novel species of a new genus in the family Cytophagaceae, for which the name Rhodocytophaga aerolata gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Rhodocytophaga aerolata is 5416T-29(T) (=KACC 12507(T) =DSM 22190(T)).