| abstract | This study records 204 trombiculid mite species belonging to 28 genera in the subfamilies Leeuwenhoekiinae and Trombiculinae (Acari: Trombiculidae). Of these, 57 are described as new to science. This work is based primarily on an exhaustive taxonomic study of the chigger collections of the National Institute of Virology, Pune, made between 1966 and 1988 in diverse ecogeographical regions of the Himalayas and peninsular India. It includes a complete revision of earlier published Indian trombiculid taxa in the light of modern concepts in chigger taxonomy and systematics. Detailed descriptions or redescriptions with standard data, collection records and critical remarks are presented for each species, while diagnostic illustrations are provided for 160 species. Keys have been given to all the genera and species. The presence of Leptotromidium (L.) deliense (Walch 1922) and other vector species of chigger-borne rickettsiosis in India, as well as of certain trombiculid species apparently involved in the maintenance of the intrazootic rickettsial cycle is confirmed. |