StarDestroyer.Net BBS

My mom caught this in her bathroom earlier. Its body is ~4 centimeters long. Its two hind limbs are roughly the same length. Mid limbs are ~3 cm long. Forelimbs are ~2 cm. Its head is .5 cm wide. Body width varies from .5 cm just behind the head to .75 cm at the widest part of the abdomen. Its antennae seem to be about 1.5 cm long. Its wings are ~3 cm long and brownish in color. Its body color is black with a hint of greenish iridescence.

Anyone know what it is?

Well it's definitely a beetle of some kind.

The rearlegs remind of a water skinner. I'm probably wrong there.

I've looked around a bit and so far the closest match I've come up with is the Tarantula Hawk wasp.

Looks like a cockroach to me.

Looks like a deranged cockroach to me.

It's too awesome to die. Please don't kill it!

It is the famed and feared "Out-of-Focus Beetle".

I don't think it's a roach or a beetle. I'm pretty sure it is a wasp, but it's hard to tell with such poor picture quality. A shot of the ventral portion wouldn't hurt either.

I agree with DarthRaptor. I think it is a wasp or sawfly.
The picture is too blurry. Need a side view too.
I found a few images on bugguide.net that look similar to that.
Pepsis
Pepsis2

Are those "wings" on top wing covers or wings? If they're wings, then it's probably what Camel IDed it as.

If not, it might be a longhorn beetle of some sort.

Brachyleptura vagans or something similar might be it, if those things on top are wing covers.

In what part of the world are you living?

Xals in Texas.

The poor picture quality is due to it being inside a ziploc bag, and me having to arrange the lighting so that the wasp wasn't covered by glare.

Anyway, it was definitely a tarantula hawk, which is what camel posted. I released it last night.