The moss flora of Europe and Macaronesia comprises 278 genera, 1292 species, 46 subspecies and 118 varieties. Of the total 1292 species, 53 are confined to Macaronesia and 21 are thought to be non-native. The checklist was derived from those for the various component countries and regions. It is based on results published up to the end of 2005. Subspecies and varieties are included; hybrids are omitted. The taxonomic hierarchy is based on one published by Goffinet & Buck in 2004. While it has been strongly influenced by results of modern molecular methods, there are still many remaining uncertainties, even at family level. Because of these uncertainties, taxonomic innovation has generally been avoided. There are four new combinations and one change of status.

Earlier phylogenetic studies, including species belonging to the Neckeraceae, have indicated that this pleurocarpous moss family shares a strongly supported sister group relationship with the Lembophyllaceae, but the family delimitation of the former needs adjustment. To test the monophyly of the Neckeraceae, as well as to redefine the family circumscription and to pinpoint its phylogenetic position in a larger context, a phylogenetic study based on molecular data was carried out. Sequence data were compiled, combining data from all three genomes: nuclear ITS1 and 2, plastid trnS‐rps4‐trnT‐trnL‐trnF and rpl16, and mitochondrial nad5 intron. The Neckeraceae have sometimes been divided into the two families, Neckeraceae and Thamnobryaceae, a division rejected here. Both parsimony and Bayesian analyses of molecular data revealed that the family concept of the Neckeraceae needs several further adjustments, such as the exclusion of some individual species and smaller genera as well as the inclusion of the Leptodontaceae. Within the family three well‐supported clades (A, B and C) can be distinguished. Members of clade A are mainly non‐Asiatic and nontropical. Most species have a weak costa and immersed capsules with reduced peristomes (mainly Neckera spp. ) and the teeth at the leaf margins are usually unicellular. Clade B members are also mainly non‐Asiatic. They are typically fairly robust, distinctly stipitate, having a single, at least relatively strong costa, long setae (capsules exserted), and the peristomes are well developed or only somewhat reduced. Members of clade C are essentially Asiatic and tropical. The species of this clade usually have a strong costa and a long seta, the seta often being mammillose in its upper part. The peristome types in this clade are mixed, since both reduced and unreduced types are found. Several neckeraceous genera that were recognised on a morphological basis are polyphyletic (e.g. Neckera, Homalia, Thamnobryum, Porotrichum). Ancestral state reconstructions revealed that currently used diagnostic traits, such as the leaf asymmetry and costa strength are highly homoplastic. Similarly, the reconstructions revealed that the ‘reduced’ sporophyte features have evolved independently in each of the three clades.

(2016). New national and regional bryophyte records, 47. Journal of Bryology: Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 151-167.

(2015). New national and regional bryophyte records, 45. Journal of Bryology: Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 308-329.