Mites of Raphignathus Dugés (Acari: Raphignathidae) from Har？it Valley (Turkey), with taxonomic notes on other members of the genus

Members of the genus Raphignathus Dugès (Acari: Raphignathidae) are predaceous and living in soil, litter, lichen, moss, stored product, house dust, bird’s nest, underneath tree bark. In the present work, the specimens of this genus, collected from Har？it Valley (Turkey), were evaluated. Totally, five known species viz. Raphignathus collegiatus Atyeo, Baker and Crossley, R. fani Dogan and Ayyildiz, R. gracilis (Rack), R. hecmatanaensis Khanjani and Ueckermann, R. kuznetzovi Do？an and Ayy？ld？z, were determined. The descriptions and measurements of some morphological characters of all species mentioned, newly reported from the research area, were given with the original drawings. Furthermore, their distributions in Turkey and the world were also presented. Also, Raphignathus protaspus Khanjani and Ueckermann syn. nov. was considered as a junior synonym of R. collegiatus Atyeo, Baker and Crossley. This paper reports the identity of the species Raphignathus broomicus Podder, Gupta and Saha is currently uncertain and doubtful, and it should be regarded here as a species inquirenda