Randy, that's a gorgeous photo, very well composed.
Frank, thank you for the glowing praise but you greatly overestimate my knowledge. I'm certainly no authority on insects! While I never heard of these insects before, they do look a lit like beetles and quite a bit more like wasps. If you were a insect predator would you want to tangle with what looks like a fierce wasp?
I think this is another great example of convergent evolution, similar to the
western clearwing poplar moth whose adults mimics the appearance of stinging hornets. I only became aware of this latter insect during the last few years, because it became an issue when a drought weakened riparian trees in my area and led to this insect's larvae causing significant damage to many trees. The adults look fearsome but they're just moths and they can't sting.
