The present study is based on oribatid mite material collected during October and November 2012 in the course of a Russian-Ethiopian expedition to southern Ethiopia. An annotated checklist of identified taxa is provided, with 22 species, 19 genera and 15 families recorded. A new species, Perscheloribates paratranslamellatus sp. n., from xerophytic forest litter is described. It is most similar morphologically to Perscheloribates translamellatus (Pérez-Iñigo & Baggio, 1991), but differs from the latter by larger body size, presence of a rudimentary translamellar line, absence of prolamellar lines, longer setae p₁ and elongate openings of sacculi Sa, S1. A supplementary description of Paroppia breviseta (Balogh, 1962) based on Ethiopian specimens is presented.