Any idea what the heck this is...

[CGriesemer]

Very strange creature here in Denver, CO...no idea what the hell this thing is, anyone seen it before?

 

[Scorpendra]

not sure of the scientific name, but that's definitely a female ichneumon wasp.

 

[lucanidae]

Agreed, female ichneumonid wasp; genus Megarhyssa.

 

[ArachnoCrazy]

its called a giant Ichneumons(Megarhyssa spp.)

 

[Stylopidae]

OK...something I can't tell from the pic

Is their waist seperated, or is the ovipositor over to the side?

 

[kraken]

looks like a scorpion/wasp(the way it arches its abdomen).Neat

 

[ErikH]

OK...something I can't tell from the pic

Is their waist seperated, or is the ovipositor over to the side?

The ovipositor is over to the side. We have ichnumen wasps in Illinois too, but I haven't seen one in quite some time.

 

[Code Monkey]

Possibly Megarhyssa macrurus. Those ovipositors are amazing, they can bore through solid wood with them even though they're only a fraction of a millimeter in thickness.

 

[arachnocat]

Wasps are really cool. I like watching them build their little mud houses. A few months ago one was trying to build a house on my car mirror while I was at work. It tried to attack me when I went near my car. I had to wait till it left then jump in really quick. lol. That's happened a few times. I don't know why they like my car so much.