Eight new species of Bembecinus of the rhopalocerus species group are described and illustrated: damarensis F. Gess and Pulawski, gariepensis F. Gess and Pulawski, helicicola Pulawski, inexspectatus Pulawski, karasanus F. Gess and Pulawski, namaquensis Pulawski, namibius Pulawski, and omaruru Pulawski. Bembecinus ruficaudus Bohart, 1997 is herein referred to the synonymy of Bembecinus mutabilis (Arnold, 1929). Bembecinus quadristrigatus somalicus (Arnold, 1940) is raised to the full species status, with B. quadristrigatus dubiosus (Guiglia, 1941) recognized as its synonym. Geographical distributions based on available records are presented for all seventeen species o fthe rhopalocerus species group: Bembecinus damarensis F .Gess and Pulawski, gariepensis F. Gess and Pulawski, gilvus R. Bohart, helicicola Pulawski, hyperocrus (Arnold), inexspectatus Pulawski, karasanus F. Gess and Pulawski, mutabilis (Arnold), namaquensis Pulawski, namibius Pulawski, omaruru Pulawski, pakhuisae R. Bohart, quadristrigatus (Arnold), rhopaloceroides (Arnold), rhopalocerus (Handlirsch), somalicus (Arnold), and zebratus R. Bohart. According to the current knowledge, all species are restricted to sub-Saharan Africa, and most occur in the semi-arid to arid Succulent Karoo and Nama-Karoo of South Africa and Namibia. Three species (gilvus, omaruru and quadristrigatus) penetrate the Namib Desert along the courses of drainage channels and one {somalicus) is known only from Ethiopia, Kenya, and northeast Tanzania. A summary of flower associations, nesting and prey is provided for those species for which data are available. Flowers visited are principally small, clustered in heads, and of the families Zygophyllaceae, Molluginaceae, Amaranthaceae and Asteraceae. All known prey are Homoptera: Cicadellidae,Flatidae, Issidae,and Nogodinidae.