On the status of Enallagma ypsilon Needham, 1942 (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae) and Micrathyria carlota Needham, 1942 (Anisoptera: Libellulidae)

Going through the correspondence of the late Dr J. Racenis, I found an interesting note in a letter sent to him by Dr M.J. Westfall, Gainesville, dated Oct. 23. 1962. which reads as follows: "Have you any reason to believe that Needham's Enallagma ypsilon is not Calvert’s novaehispaniae? From the type which I have here 1 can not see any differences. Of course this is close to cardenium, coecum and a new species Mrs. Gloyd is working with. Also I believe that Needham's carlota is just ocellata dentiens in the genus Micrathyria. Do you have any evidence to the contrary?" — At least as far as E. ypsilon is concerned, Dr Racenis did not have it. Along with a list of specimens of many neotropical species he had examined at different museums in the United States, Europe and Venezuela I found the following handwritten note (translated from Spanish): "In the collection at Cornell University there is a box containing different species of Enallagma, among them a male specimen 'Enallagma n. sp.?, El Valle, Venezuela, 4.V.39, G. Vivas Berthier’. This specimen is a typical E. coecum of the northern part of Venezuela”. — Although the collecting dates differ by two days from those published by J.G. NEEDHAM (1942, Boln Em. venez. 1:59-64) for the type of ypsilon. Rácenis probably held this type in hand. However, nothing has apparently been published yet about the status of this species and that of M. carlota. Enallagma ypsilon Needham. — The only known specimen, the male holotype (taken at El Valle, Caracas, on May 2nd), has been checked by Dr M.J. Westfall, and he found ypsilon Needham to be identic with coecum novaehispaniae Calv. (cf. above). Already the original description by NEEDHAM (1942; cf. above) lets one arrive at this conclusion, the more so when considering that he apparently did not compare his ypsilon with coecum novaehispaniae. He only points to some differences between ypsilon and two northern species, namely antennatum (Say) and praevarum (Hag.).