Scorpion Fly

No problem. I'm not an expert or anything... but as far as I know, The Crane Fly should be OK, it belongs to Tipulomorpha which IS an Infraorder of the Order Diptera. I'm getting this from: http://bugguide.net/node/view/55/bgpage Although it is only for North American Arthropods it is a good sight to see how the Taxonomy is organized.

I'm not sure if it matters to the "Flies" mission creator and it's a wonderful picture. I just want to point out that this is not a "real" fly. That is to say it is not a member of the Order Diptera. Which according to her mission description are the flies she's looking for.

The wing pattern and general conformity of your sighting reminds me of some of the North American scorpionflies. These are predatory insects and I think Joseph makes an interesting observation in that predatory insects often have a tendency to sit on a "launch" pad, usually a leaf or twig, so they can take off quickly to track down passing prey or potential mates. Did you by any chance get to see it from the side? Scorpionflies have a rather long, heavily-constructed piercing proboscis that is fairly unmistakable. See some examples of North American scorpionflies at http://bugguide.net/node/view/9217 that look similar. Your particular spotting, however, may be a different species from those shown on the recommended page.

Interesting angle. Almost gives you the insects perspective.