Phylogeny
In 2005, several liverwort phylogeny groups that now participate in the LiToL project combined their existing datasets, collected new data to fill in previous gaps, and performed new analyses to present the latest word in liverwort phylogeny at the 2005 International Botanical Congress in Vienna, Austria. The publication detailing these results can be found in volume 109 of the The Bryologist (Forrest et al., 2006). See complete list of liverwort phylogeny references.
Figure 1 (from Forrest et al., 2006) depicts relationships within the liverworts. The first diverging lineage is composed of the Haplomitriaceae and Treubiaceae (collectively referred to as the Haplomitriopsida). The next lineage to diverge is composed of the complex thalloids and the Blasiaceae (collectively referred to as the Marchantioposida). The liverworts that compose the sister group to the Marchantiopsida are collectively known as the Jungermanniopsida. The Jungermanniopsida are composed of three major groups: Simple thalloids I, Simple thalloids II plus the Pleuroziaceae, and the Leafy I and Leafy II lineages.
Figure 1. Diagram of relationships of major clades as resolved from parsimony and Bayesian analyses of 5 loci (including chloroplast, nuclear, and mitochondrial DNA). Numbers above the branches are Maximum Parsimony bootstrap values/homogeneous Bayesian posterior probabilities (PPs)/5-partition Bayesian PPs/14-partition Bayesian PPs. |
Correspondence Between Morphological Diversity and Phylogeny
Taxa that have been morphologically
classed as “simple thalloids,” including
the Treubiaceae, Haplomitriaceae, Blasiaceae, Simple thalloid I, and
Simple thalloid II groups, are not monophyletic. The “complex
thalloids” do form a monophyletic group, and their closest
sister taxon is the Blasiaceae. The “leafy” liverworts,
with the exception of the Pleuroziaceae, also form a monophyletic group.
Please see the individual phylogeny pages for more details:
Haplomitriaceae and Treubiaceae
Complex Thalloids and the Blasiaceae
Simple thalloids I
Simple thalloids II plus the Pleuroziaceae
Leafy I
Leafy II
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