The higher classification of taxa related to the traditional tribe Cryptochilini is revised. As a result two monotypic tribes are Incorporated as the subtribes Calognathina and Vansoniina in the tribe Cryptochilini. An additional subtribe, Homebiina, is proposed for a recently discovered apomorphic Namib desert species, Homebius kaszabi gen. et spec. nov. A new subspecies, Calognathus chevrolati lucanoides, is also described. In a recently discovered small group of species, a unique form of sexual dimorphism was found. The males fit conveniently into a known genus of Cryptochilina, but the females do not resemble anything within or outside the tribe. This lineage of species is described under the names Cerasoma irreale, C. cerasus and C. kochi gen. et spp. nov. within the Cryptochilini. The notion that the lineage originated from a sympatrically occurring Cryptochile species by saltatorial change warrants investigation. Keywords: Coleoptera, Phylogenetics, Southern Africa, Systematics, Tenebrionidae and Tentyriinae.