Two Gram-stain-negative, non-fermentative bacterial strains, designated 11-0202^T and 11-0607, were isolated from soil in South Korea, and four others, LUH 13522, LUH 8638, LUH 10268 and LUH 10288, were isolated from a beet field in Germany, soil in the Netherlands, and sediment of integrated fish farms in Malaysia and Thailand, respectively. Based on 16S rRNA, rpoB and gyrB gene sequences, they are considered to represent a novel species of the genus Acinetobacter . Their 16S rRNA gene sequences showed greatest pairwise similarity to Acinetobacter beijerinckii NIPH 838^T (97.9–98.4 %). They shared highest rpoB and gyrB gene sequence similarity with Acinetobacter johnsonii DSM 6963^T and Acinetobacter bouvetii 4B02^T (85.4–87.6 and 78.1–82.7 %, respectively). Strain 11-0202^T displayed low DNA–DNA reassociation values (<40 %) with the most closely related species of the genus Acinetobacter . The six strains utilized azelate, 2,3-butanediol, ethanol and dl-lactate as sole carbon sources. Cellular fatty acid analyses showed similarities to profiles of related species of the genus Acinetobacter : summed feature 3 (C_{16 : 1}ω7c, C_{16 : 1}ω6c; 24.3–27.2 %), C_{18 : 1}ω9c (19.9–22.1 %), C_{16 : 0} (15.2–22.0 %) and C_{12 : 0} (9.2–14.2 %). On the basis of the current findings, it is concluded that the six strains represent a novel species, for which the name Acinetobacter kookii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 11-0202^T ( = KCTC 32033^T = JCM 18512^T).