Well, if you really want to know…
Folks, this thread is fantastic! I’m an entomologist, and this is the precise example I use in lectures when describing the regional nature of common names, and the inherent problems associated with them. I actually throw a photo of one of these guys up and Ags to shout out the name that they associate with them…and where they grew up. The results are always similar to the responses here.
The common name that is generally accepted by the scientific community is…’crane fly’. But regardless of what you call them, they are true flies and belong to the Order ‘Diptera’, and Family ‘Tipulidae’. Like all flies, crane flies only have one pair of membranous forewings and a pair of modified hind wings called halteres (the stalked knobby appendages in the top image). Mayflies on the other hand belong to the Order ‘Ephemeroptera’, and have two pairs of membranous wings (bottom image).