As a high resolution stacked composite, here is the reproductive end of a yucca moth.
Despite what you might be thinking, this is actually a female yucca moth.
The long protruding structure is part of the egg-laying mechanism. It's very rigid, has a sharp hook on the end, and it's connected to some serious muscles inside the abdomen.
The guys who study these things think that this kind of moth uses the hook to scrape grooves in the tissue of a yucca flower, so the tiny larvae can more easily get to good food.
But they're not quite sure about that, because this particular moth presents a special difficulty.
Perhaps you've read of the symbiotic relationship between yucca plants and yucca moths. They have evolved as a co-dependent pair. The yucca plant is pollinated only by the yucca moth, and the yucca moth larvae feed only on the developing seeds of the yucca plant.
What you probably don't know (I certainly didn't!) is that there are several different kinds of yucca plants and moths, all fairly neatly paired up -- each kind of plant with its own kind(s) of moths.
The species of yucca plant that is paired with this moth has a very small range. It's found only in the mountains of southern Baja California (Mexico), and the area where it grows is being rapidly reduced by human-caused encroachment (grazing), probably assisted a bit by climate change.
The moth, of course, has an equally small range. And a short emergence period. And the area is sort of hard to get to.
The upshot is that the adult of this species is known from exactly one specimen. This is it.
The specimen no longer even exists, in this form, because it had to be dissected to allow describing the internal anatomy. There may never be another one, because the chances are fair to middling that the species will go extinct before anybody gets back to sample the area again.
Extended-depth-of-field photography provides a quality of record that would have been impossible just a few years ago. Technology marches on.
Parategeticula ecdysiastica (Pellmyr & Balcázar-Lara) will be the name, after the upcoming publication in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. Says the paper, "Etymology: The species epithet is derived from Greek ecdysiast, one who sheds layers, referring to the nearly complete loss of all wing scales during adult emergence."
Many thanks to Dr. Olle Pellmyr, who gave me the opportunity to help document this beast.
--Rik
Canon Digital Rebel with Olympus 38mm f/2.8 bellows lens at f/2.8, 74 frames stacked at 0.0005". Cropped from full frame = 2.55mm wide.
It is a shame that so many things are ending up endangered or just plain gone by encroachment or industrialization of certain areas. Whooping Cranes for example, not many left due to the fact that their habitats are being destroyed at an alarming rate and so it seems with this Yucca Moth. Great narrative Rik, many thanks and also thanks to the good doctor 
It's an interesting beast, and an interesting technical problem to record!
Only speculation on my part, seeing as how I know nothing about moths or insects in general for that matter. Ask me about myxomycetes