After a rain, I went outside to try and photograph wildflowers that had water droplets on them when I spotted this insect. I had to look it up to see what it was. I learned it's a Scorpion Fly. I guess because of the tail having what appears to be a stinger that isn't really a stinger after all.
"The curved 'tail' of a male Scorpionfly ends in a bulge that appears to have a stinger at the tip. This resemblance to scorpion tails led to their common name, though the association is only visual, not functional. The bulging end of the male's 'tail' is its reproductive organ. It is not a stinger and the insect cannot sting with it. It is used when mating to fertilize eggs inside a willing female after courting her with an acceptable gift of food and wooing her with his pheromone." [BoB]
