Three new species of the xanthopygine staphylinid genus Elmas are described: Elmas strigiformis Ashe & Chatzimanolis (Brazil), Elmas elassoides Ashe & Chatzimanolis (Bolivia), and Elmas similis Ashe & Chatzimanolis (Brazil). The habitus and structural illustrations are provided for their recognition. Previously published keys for identification are modified to incorporate the new species. The phylogenetic relationships are reanalyzed based on addition of the three new species, revision and recoding of 32 previously used characters, deletion of E. modesta (known only from females) from the analysis, and addition of eight new characters. Phylogenetic analysis based on four xanthopygine outgroups and 19 species of Elmas yielded four equally parsimonious trees of length = 135, C.I. = 45, and R.I. = 74. Major results of the phylogenetic analysis are Elmas is robustly monophyletic; E. strigella and E. strigiformis are sister species, and together they are sister to all other known Elmas species; Elmas elassos is sister to Elmas elassoides Elmas similis; E. spinosus is sister to the sister-group pair of E. falini E. gigas; and E. windorsi and E. costaricensis are sister groups. New records of Elmas lescheni document the presence of Elmas in Colombia for the first time.