Members of the family Chaoboridae are mosquito-like, nonbiting nematoceran flies. Extant taxa are found worldwide where the larvae are chiefly lacustrine in habit. Larvae of most all species are predaceous and can occur in large planktonic swarms.

Some chaoborids are found frequently in some fossil formations. Species of the genus Chironomaptera Ping (especially gregaria Grabau) are characteristic enough of certain fossil beds and geological horizons that they are used by paleontologists to date certain formations in Siberia, Mongolia, and China.

The oldest known fossils of the family are from the Middle Jurassic deposits of Siberia. Cretaceous chaoborids are known from both compression and amber deposits, but only compression fossils have been described and named (Kalugina, 1986). Whalley (1981) recorded the family from the Lower Cretaceous amber of Lebanon, Zherichin & Sukacheva (1973) recorded chaoborids from Cretaceous Siberian amber, and Poinar (1992) recorded the family from the Oligocene/Miocene amber of the Dominican Republic. In addition to these records, Wagner (1990) mentioned that possible larvae and pupae of this family have been found in deposits of unspecified age in northern Germany and Schumann & Wendt (1989: 41) recorded undetermined material of this family from the Miocene Bitterfeld amber of Germany.

Borkent (1993: 7) stated that the specimen recorded from the Cretaceous Santana Formation in Brazil by Grimaldi (1990) and Maisey (1991) as "Mesotendipedidae" [= Chironomapterinae] is actually a chironomid and not a chaoborid. Worthy of further review is the claim by Saether (1992) that the fossil genus Chironomaptera is synonymous with Chaoborus.

The genera Dixamima and Rhaetomyia (formerly in Dixamimidae and Rhaetomyiidae, respectively in the original 1994 catalog version) are included in Chaoboridae here.

Ref.: Borkent (1993, world catalog).

ASTROCORETHRA Kalugina, 1986: 117. Type species: Astrocorethra mjangadica Kalugina, 1986, by original designation.

gurvanica Kalugina, 1986: 118. PA: Mongolia (Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous) [C].
khukhmortica Kalugina, 1986: 119. PA: Mongolia (Lower Cretaceous) [C].
mjangadica Kalugina, 1986: 118. PA: Mongolia (Lower Cretaceous) [C].
mjangatica. Incorrect original spelling of mjangadica (Sinitsa, 1986: 33, 34).

Genus CHACHOTOSHA Lukashevich

CHACHOTOSHA Lukashevich, 1996b: 57. Type species: Chachotosha probatus Lukashevich, 1996, by original designation.

?perplexus Lukashevich, 1996b: 58. PA: Mongolia (Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous) [C].
probatus Lukashevich, 1996b: 57. PA: Mongolia (Upper Jurassic/.Lower Cretaceous) [C].

*CHAOBORUS Lichtenstein, 1800: 174. Type species: Chaoborus antisepticus Lichtenstein, 1800 [= Tipula crystallina De Geer, 1776], by monotypy.
*CORETHRA Meigen, 1803: 260. Type species: Tipula culiciformis De Geer, 1776 [misidentification & preoccupied, = Tipula crystallina De Geer, 1776], by monotypy.
CULICITES Heyden, 1862: 79. Type species Culicites tertiarius Heyden, 1862, by monotypy.

ciliatus Meunier, 1904b: 89 (Corethra). PA: Baltic Region (Eocene/Oligocene) [A].
tertiarius Heyden, 1862: 79 (Culicites). PA: Germany (Oligocene) [C].
Unidentified sp.-OR: Myanmar (Miocene) [A] (Edwards, 1923: 152).
Unidentified sp. - NE: USA (Mississippi) (Eocene) [C].

Genus CHAOBURMUS Lukashevich

CHAOBURMUS Lukashevich, 2000: 48. Type species: Chaoburmus breviusculus Lukashevich, 2000, by original designation.

breviusculus Lukashevich, 2000: 49. OR: Myanmar (Late Cretaceous) [A].
victimaartis Lukashevich, 2000: 50. OR: Myanmar (Late Cretaceous) [A].

CHIRONOMAPTERA Ping, 1928: 33. Type species: Samarura gregaria Grabau, 1923, by original designation.
PETIOLATENDIPES Lin, 1980: 228. Type species: Petiolatendipes shouchangensis Lin, 1980 [= Chironomaptera vesca Kalugina, 1980], by original designation.
MESOTENDIPES Hong, 1982: 161 (unjustified replacement name for Chironomaptera Ping). Type species: Samarura gregaria Grabau, 1923, automatic.

bucucunica Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 70. Russia (Siberia) (Middle Jurassic) [C].
collessi Jell & Duncan, 1986: 172. AU: Australia (Lower Cretaceous) [C].
gobiensis Cockerell, 1924c: 142 (Chironomopsis). PA: Mongolia (Lower Cretaceous) [C].
gregaria Grabau, 1923: 178 (Samarura). PA: China (Upper Jurassic) [C]; PA: Mongolia (Upper Jurassic) [C], PA: Russia (Siberia) (Upper Jurassic) [C].
melanura Ping, 1928: 35. PA: China (Upper Jurassic) [C].
scobloi Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 67. PA: Russia (Siberia) (Middle Jurassic) [C].
vesca Kalugina, 1980a: 62. PA: Mongolia (Upper Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous) [C]; PA: China (Upper Jurassic) [C].
shouchangensis Lin, 1980: 228 (Petiolatendipes). PA: China (Upper Jurassic) [C].
Unidentified sp.-PA: Russia (Siberia) (Upper Cretaceous) [A] (Zherichin, 1978: 82).

DIXAMIMA Rohdendorf, 1951: 58, 59 (1959a: 108) [1962: 314 (1991: 456)]. Type species: Dixamima villosa Rohdendorf, 1951, by monotypy.

villosa Rohdendorf, 1951: 58, 59 [1959a: 108; 1962: 315;1991: 456]. PA: Kazakhstan (Upper Jurassic) [C].

HELOKRENIA Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 80. Type species: Helkrenia nana Kalugina, 1985, by original designation.

nana Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 80. PA: Russia (Siberia) (Middle Jurassic) [C].

HYPSOCORETHRA Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 74. Type species: Hypsocorethra toficola Kalugina, 1985, by original designation.

jurassica Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 78. PA: Russia (Siberia) (Middle/Upper Jurassic) [C].
toficola Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 75. PA: Russia (Siberia) (Middle Jurassic) [C].
tufficola. Incorrect original spelling of toficola (Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 74).

TRICHIA Hong, 1981: 28. Type species: Trichia gracilis Hong, 1981, by original designation. [Preoccupied by Hoffman, 1790.]
IYAIYAI Evenhuis, 1994: in this work (new replacement name for Trichia Hong). Type species: Trichia gracilis Hong, 1981, automatic.
TRISHIA. Incorrect original spelling of Trichia (Hong, 1981: 30).

gracilis Hong, 1981: 28 (Trichia). PA: China (Eocene) [A].

MESOCHAOBORUS Zhang et al., 1986: 19. Type species: Leptoplecia zhangshanyingensis Hong, 1984, by original designation.

pallens Zhang et al., 1986: 23. PA: China (Upper Jurassic) [C].
zhangshanyingensis Hong, 1984b: 177 (Leptoplecia). PA: China (Upper Jurassic) [C].

*MOCHLONYX Loew, 1844: 121. Type species Corethra velutina Ruthe, 1831, by monotypy.

atavus Loew, 1861: 93 (1864: 315). Nomen nudum.
sepultus Meunier, 1902c: 199. PA: Baltic Region (Eocene/Oligocene) [A].
sepultus Loew, 1844: 121. Nomen nudum.

PRAECHAOBORUS Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 70. Type species: Praechaoborus tugnuicus Kalugina, 1985, by original designation.

tugnuicus Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 71. PA: Russia (Siberia) (Middle/Upper Jurassic) [C].
udaensis Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 73. PA: Russia (Siberia) (Middle Jurassic) [C].

RHAETOMYIA Rohdendorf, 1962: 318 (1991: 462). Type species: Rhaetomyia necopinata Rohdendorf, 1962, by original designation.

necopinata Rohdendorf, 1962: 318 (1991: 462). PA: Kirghizistan (Lower Jurassic) [C].
?Unidentified sp.-PA: Russia (Siberia) (Middle Jurassic) [C] (Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 12).

Genus TAIMYBORUS Lukashevich

TAIMYBORUS Lukashevich, 1999: 59. Type species: Taimyborus aequiarticulatus Lukashevich, 1999, by original designation.

aequiarticulatus Lukashevich, 1999: 59. PA: Russia (Siberia) (Upper Cretaceous) [A].

argillaceus Kalugina in Kalugina & Kovalev, 1985: 81 ("Chaoborites"). PA: Russia (Siberia) (Middle Jurassic) [C].
exita Scudder, 1877a: 744 (Corethra). NE: USA (Eocene) [C].