  We present multicolour imaging for 33 dwarf and intermediate-luminosity
galaxies in the field of the NGC 5044 Group, complemented with mid-resolution
spectroscopy for a subsample of 13 objects. With these data, a revised
membership and morphological classification is made for the galaxies in the
sample. We were able to confirm all but one of the "definite members" included
in the spectroscopic subsample, which were originally classified based on
morphological criteria; however, an important fraction of background galaxies
is probably present among "likely" and "possible" members.
  The presence of a nucleus could be detected in just five out of the nine
galaxies originally classified as dE,N, thus confirming the intrisic difficulty
of photographic-plate morphological classification for this kind of object. Our
deep surface photometry provided clear evidences for disc structure in at least
three galaxies previously catalogued as dE or dS0. Their transition-type
properties are also evident from the colour-magnitude diagram, where they lie
near the late-type galaxies locus, suggesting an evolutionary connection
between a parent disc-galaxy population and at least part of present-day dEs.
Six new dSph candidates were also found, most of them at small projected
distances from NGC 5044, the central galaxy of the Group.
  The NGC 5044 Group appears clearly defined in redshift space, with a mean
heliocentric radial velocity, <v_r>=2461 +/- 84 km/s (z=0.0082), and a moderate
dispersion, \sigma_{v_r}=431 km/s. Our data show no luminosity segregation for
early-type galaxies: both dwarf and bright E/S0 systems show very similar
velocity distributions (\sigma_{v_r} ~ 290 km/s), in contrast to late-type
galaxies that seem to display a broader distribution (\sigma_{v_r} ~ 680 km/s).
