Introduction. Following on from work on the European bryophyte Red List, the taxonomically and nomenclaturally updated spreadsheets used for that project have been expanded into a new checklist for the bryophytes of Europe. Methods. A steering group of ten European bryologists was convened, and over the course of a year, the spreadsheets were compared with previous European checklists, and all changes noted. Recent literature was searched extensively. A taxonomic system was agreed, and the advice and expertise of many European bryologists sought. Key results. A new European checklist of bryophytes, comprising hornworts, liverworts and mosses, is presented. Fifteen new combinations are proposed. Conclusions. This checklist provides a snapshot of the current European bryophyte flora in 2019. It will already be out-of-date on publication, and further research, particularly molecular work, can be expected to result in many more changes over the next few years.

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.

Competing hypotheses that rely either on a stepping‐stone dispersal via the North Atlantic or the Bering land bridges, or more recent transoceanic dispersal, have been proposed to explain the disjunct distribution of Mediterranean flora in southern Europe and western North America. These hypotheses were tested with molecular dating using a phylogeny of the moss genus Homalothecium based on ITS, atpB‐rbcL, and rpl16 sequence data. The monophyly of two main lineages in Western Palearctic (Europe, central Asia and north Africa) and North America is consistent with the ancient vicariance hypothesis. The monophyly of Madeiran H. sericeum accessions supports the recognition of the Macaronesian endemic H. mandonii. A range of absolute rates of molecular evolution documented in land plants was used as probabilistic calibration prior by a Bayesian inference implementing a relaxed‐clock model to derive ages for the nodes of interest. Our age estimates for the divergence of the American and Western Palearctic Homalothecium clade (5.7 Ma, IC 3.52–8.26) and the origin of H. mandonii (2.52 Myr IC 0.86–8.25) are not compatible with the ancient vicariance hypothesis. Age estimates suggests that species distributions result from rare instances of dispersal and subsequent sympatric diversification. The calibrated phylogeny indicates that Homalothecium has undergone a fast radiation during the last 4 Myr, which is consistent with the low levels of morphological divergence among sibling species.

Phylogeny of Schistidium (Bryophyta, Grimmiaceae) was studied by comparing the nucleotide sequences of internal transcribed spacers ITS1-2 of nuclear rDNA and the trnT-trnD region of chloroplast DNA. Phylogenetic trees constructed based on nuclear and chloroplast sequences were consistent, comprising a basal grade and two large clades. Morphological characteristics specific for these clades were described. Secondary structures of ITS1 and ITS2 Schistidium species were modeled using thermodynamic criteria. Four different structures of the longest ITS1 hairpin were identified. These results were used to analyze possible paths of Schistidium evolution. Characteristics of the ITS2 secondary structure support the two major clades recognized in the phylogenetic trees.