The tribe Sisyphini sensu stricto Mulsant, 1842 comprises only three genera, the widespread Sisyphus Latreille, 1807 and Neosisyphus Müller, 1942, and the Mauritius endemic, Nesosisyphus Vinson, 1946. In southern Africa, Sisyphus and Neosisyphus are represented by five species groups in each genus. Together, they comprise a total of 33 valid species, of which six are new: Sisyphus auricomus sp. n; Sisyphus australis sp. n ; Sisyphus bicuariensis sp. n; Sisyphus inconspicuus sp. n; Sisyphus swazi sp. n; and Neosisyphus tembyi sp. n. A further Southern African species, Sisyphus crispatus Gory, 1833, is proposed as a nomen dubium. Sisyphus natalensis Balthasar, 1968 (syn. n), and Sisyphus bornemisszanus Endrödi, 1983 (pars) (syn. n) are made synonyms of Sisyphus sordidus Boheman, 1857. Lectotypes and paralectotypes are designated for Sisyphus costatus (Thunberg, 1818); Sisyphus seminulum Gerstaecker, 1871; Sisyphus nanniscus Péringuey, 1901; Sisyphus transvaalensis Péringuey 1901; Neosisyphus spinipes (Thunberg, 1818) and Neosisyphus barbarossa (Wiedemann, 1823). Diagnoses, photographs of habitus and male genitalia, lists of examined material and distribution maps are presented for all species. An identification key to the southern African sisyphine species is provided.

Summary The present study was carried out in Chapada dos Guimarães (Brazilian Shield-Chacoan Depression Border), Mato Grosso, Brazil. In this paper we describe the species and composition of dung beetles in different vegetational environments in the Brazilian Shield–Chacoan Depression Border, to associate species present in each habitat to their known distributions, in order to determine whether this region is a biogeographic transition zone. We also update the first checklist of dung beetles from this region published over a century ago. We collected 17,635 individuals of dung beetles belonging to 98 species. Dung beetle fauna responded to the abrupt variation of altitude; in the upland savanna formations we observed species which are predominantly distributed in the Cerrado biogeographic province, whilst the lowland savanna formations were mainly constituted by species which are commonly distributed in the provinces of Chaco or Chaco + Cerrado. Forest formations harbor species which occur frequently in the Amazon sub-region. Due to several overlapped biotic components and also associated with the local endemism records, we regard the region as a biogeographic transition zone for dung beetles.