We describe the new genus, Renodesta for two new species, R. stephani and R. ramsdalei. This genus belongs to the Caenoscelini and is distinguished from other genera in the tribe by extreme eye reduction to a single ommatidium, fusion of the apical two antennomeres, and a lack of prosternal foveae. The new species are found in leaf litter, especially associated with rotting wood, and are known only from a few localities in California's central Coast Ranges. Renodesta appears to be sister to a lineage comprising the Southeast Asian genera Dernostea Sasaji and Himascelis Sen Gupta, with the widespread genus Sternodea Reitter potentially sister to all of these.