Arigomphus submedianus in copula

I unknowingly walked right by these two and scared them which caused them to flee, in turn scaring the hell out of me as they almost clipped my head. Thankfully I was able to catch up with them for a little while.

I went back and forth between photographing them and other nearby insects for 15 minutes or so and the entire time the male appeared to be removing sperm. Unfortunately for him, I also scared them again by getting too close and they separated. So unless he caught up with her later he essentially helped with easing the propagation of another male's DNA.

I felt really bad as an accidental participant in this sequence of events.