Since beginning to photograph dragonflies seriously a few years ago, I have become much more aware of all insects…wasps, bees, and beetles will catch my eye and bring the camera into play. I am sure I have seen many new bugs in the past year, but most were wasps and bees and beetles that I might have looked at hundreds of times in the past and never given a second look. This bug however stopped me in my tracks. Not only had I never seen it…I had never seen anything remotely like it! Life Bug for sure.

Taken at Emmons Preserve in Kennebunkport ME.

It turns out it is an American Pelecinid, a wasp relative, and a female at that. Though females are apparently fairly common in late summer across a range that stretches from Central America up into Canada, males (with shorter abdomen) are so rare that it is assumed they are not needed for reproduction (which begs the question: why are there any males at all?). That ferocious looking abdomen is in fact pretty harmless…no sting…and the bug itself is not aggressive. No bother at all unless you are a scarab grub larve, in which case you could become a unwilling host to Pelecinid eggs.

Sony HX400V at 2400mm equivalent field of view. ISO 80 @ 1/250th @ f6.3. Processed in Snapseed on my tablet.