An aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, oxidase- and catalase-positive, non-motile, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, pink-pigmented bacterium, designated strain R49T, was isolated from soil. Flexirubin-type pigments were absent. Phylogenetic analysis based on its 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain R49T formed a lineage within the family Cytophagaceae of the phylum Bacteroidetes that was distinct from the most closely related genera Dyadobacter (91.98-93.85 % sequence similarity), Persicitalea (88.69 %) and Runella (84.79-85.81 %). The major isoprenoid quinone was menaquinone-7 (MK-7) and the major polar lipid was phosphatidylethanolamine. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and/or C16 : 1ω6c), iso-C15 : 0, C16 : 1ω5c, C16 : 0 and iso-C17 : 0 3-OH. The DNA G+C content of strain R49T was 53.9 mol%. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic analysis, strain R49T represents a novel species of a new genus in the family Cytophagaceae, for which the name Rhabdobacter roseus gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Rhabdobacter roseus is R49T ( = KEMB 9005-318T = KACC 18395T = JCM 30685T).