Crane Fly Facts
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The long legs and thin bodies of crane fly species (family Tipulidae) make them among the easiest members of the Diptera to identify at the family level.
With approximately fifteen hundred North American species, moving beyond identification at the family level can be problematic. Estimates of the number of species world wide vary, but with over ten thousand different species, the Tipulidae rank as the largest fly family (Diptera).
While species vary in size, some of the larger species (over two inches in length) also rank as the world's largest flies.
Crane flies go by a variety of nicknames, including mosquito hawk, although adults do not feed on mosquitoes. They also do not bite humans. In some areas they are called daddy long legs.
© 2010 Patricia A. Michaels