What is this bug with tailhooks

[Micky]

I've been going au naturel so far this summer.

That is, no screens in the windows.

Last fall I had no insects at all in the house. It amazed me. But this year there are a few. Almost all of them I like.

(One mosquito at most but I didn't get a good look. I don't get bumps anyhow, and Zika hasn't made it to Baltimore yet.)

But today one was real scarey looking. I didn't recognize it but it was pretty big and had two 3/4" long strands, one on either side on the rear of the bug, looking like jet fighter tailhooks.

1) Anyone know what that is? and 2) Any truth to the idea that the scarey looking ones are less likely to sting?

He was flying around the room for an hour and I don't know if he left because he finally found the window again, or because rain was getting near and he had to be home before it rained.

[rbowman]

A link to a photo would be nice... Probably wasn't an earwig; they can fly in a pinch but never appear to be interested in doing so.

[Moe DeLoughan]

Sounds like an earwig.

[TimR]

If it's a wasp, probably a Polistes.

They use their sting for hunting, not defense, you're unlikely to have trouble unless you grab it.

[Micky]

Thanks. I've heard of earwigs but didn't know what they looked like.

That's not the one. Its rear things look like crab claws, but the ones I saw were just strands, about as thick as button-hole thread, dangling down, rather than stiffly in a plane with the bug's body.

Plus I think the thorax was black and fuzzy, and maybe distinct from the head.

[Micky]

Good to know. No yellow in this bug, but it had a segmented body sort of like your wasp.

At least it didn't stay to build a nest. So far they all leave by morning, and there are really very few bugs, only 2-6 moths and a couple other things. I wonder if CFL's dont' attract them like real light bulbs do.

[FromTheRafters]

Micky was thinking very hard :

Mayfly perhaps?