The Tanypezidae, known as the “stretched-foot flies”, are small family of acalyptrate Diptera (Schizophora, Brachycera). The 28 species are found mostly in the New World, divided between two genera: Tanypeza (2 species) is found in North America, with the type species (T. longimana Fallén) extending into the Palaearctic, and Neotanypeza (26 species) is neotropical in distribution and includes one species known only from Dominican amber from 17–20 million years ago, N. dominicana Lonsdale & Apigian. This distribution contrasts that of its sister family, the Strongylophthalmyiidae, which is mostly East Asian in distribution.