Typical Crane Flies

A crane fly or crane-fly, the larva called a leatherjacket, is a member of the dipteran superfamily Tipuloidea, which contains the living families Cylindrotomidae, Limoniidae, Pediciidae and Tipulidae, as well as several extinct families. "Winter crane flies", members of the family Trichoceridae, are sufficiently different from the typical crane flies of Tipuloidea to be excluded from the superfamily Tipuloidea, and are placed as their sister group within Tipulomorpha. Two other families of flies, the phantom crane flies (Ptychopteridae) and primitive crane flies (Tanyderidae), have similar common names due to their similar appearance.

The classification of crane flies has been varied in the past, with some or all of these families treated as subfamilies, but the following classification is currently accepted. Species counts are approximate, and vary over time.