Pseudoleskeellaceae
Autoicous or dioicous (not in Victoria). Asexual reproduction by brood branchlets in leaf axils (not in Victoria). Mats or tufts on rocks, logs (not in Victoria) or trees (not in Victoria). Stems creeping, irregularly or pinnately branched, with fascicles of rhizoids ventrally or below leaf insertions; paraphyllia absent; pseudoparaphyllia present, foliose; central strand present. Leaves arranged around stem and facing all directions, monomorphic, erect- to wide-spreading when moist, appressed and imbricate when dry; apex rounded (not in Victoria), obtuse (not in Victoria), acute or acuminate, sometimes piliferous (not in Victoria); costa single, terminating in the apical half or percurrent, or short and double (not in Victoria); margin entire to serrulate, plane or slightly recurved near base, without a border; laminal cells ovate or elliptic to rhombic or hexagonal, sometimes smaller toward margins and base, smooth or papillose (not in Victoria); alar cells differentiated, rounded-quadrate to short-rectangular. Pleurocarpous. Capsule erect, symmetric (not in Victoria) or slightly asymmetric, exserted, operculate, with an annulus, sometimes rudimentary. Calyptra cucullate, smooth, glabrous. Operculum conic or rostrate (not in Victoria). Peristome single (not in Victoria) or double and alternate; exostome of 16 entire teeth, inserted below mouth, sometimes fused at apex; endostome absent (not in Victoria) or consisting of a low (not in Victoria) to high basal membrane with or without (not in Victoria) 16 segments; cilia absent (not in Victoria) or present.
The circumscription of this family requires confirmation, but potentially includes around four genera and 31 species, shared between all continents except Antarctica; one genus and species in Victoria.
The sole Victorian representative, Pseudoleskeopsis imbricata (Hook.f. & Wilson) Thér., has previously been placed in the Leskeaceae. The Leskeaceae has been shown by phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences to be an aggregation of several separate lineages, some of which are most likely more closely related to other well-established families (Gardiner et al. 2005; García-Avila et al. 2009; Ignatova et al. 2010). This is reinforced by the heterogenous morphology of the group that included drastically differing morphology such as stems with or without paraphyllia, differentiation or uniformity between stem and branch leaves, and ecostate or costate leaves, that are unlikely to represent a natural grouping (Spence 2014). The type of Leskea, L. polycarpa Hedw., appears to have evolved from Thuidiaceae ancestry (García-Avila et al. 2009; see Thuidiaceae profile), suggesting that Leskeaceae may be better synonymised with Thuidiaceae. Pseudoleskeopsis imbricata is closely related to Lindbergia, which may be more closely related to Pseudoleskeella than other lineages of the former Leskeaceae (Gardiner et al. 2005; Ignatov et al. 2007; Cox et al. 2010; Ignatova et al. 2010; Câmara & Buck 2012). Pseudoleskeella was segregated off as family Pseudoleskeellaceae (Ignatov & Ignatova 2004) and based on a potential close relationship to Pseudoleskeella, the Victorian species is included here in Pseudoleskeellaceae.
Câmara, P.E.A.S; Buck, W.R. (2012). A re-interpretation of the Fabroniaceae, a phylogenetic perspective . The Bryologist 115: 109–117.
Cox, C.J.; Goffinet, B.; Wickett, N.J.; Boles, S.B.; Shaw, A.J. (2010). Moss diversity: A molecular phylogenetic analysis of genera. Phytotaxa 9: 175–195.
García-Avila, D.; De Luna, E.; Newton, A.E. (2009). Phylogenetic relationships of the Thuidiaceae and the non-monophyly of the Thuidiaceae and the Leskeaceae based on rbcL, rps4 and the rps4-trnS intergenic spacer. The Bryologist 112: 80–93.
Gardiner, A.; Ignatov, M.; Huttunen, S.; Troitsky, A. (2005). On resurrection of the families Pseudoleskeaceae Schimp. And Pylaisiaceae Schimp. (Musci, Hypnales). Taxon 54: 651–663.
Ignatova, E.A.; Ignatov, M.S.; Milyutina, I.A. (2010). A revision of the genus Lindbergia (Leskeaceae, Bryophyta) in Russia. Arctoa 19: 97–116.
Ignatov, M.S.; Gardiner, A.A.; Bobrova, V.K.; Milyutina, I.A.; Huttunen, S.; Troitsky, A.V. (2007). On the relationships of mosses of the order Hypnales, with special reference to taxa traditionally classified in the Leskeaceae, in Newton, A.E. & Tangney, R.S. (eds.), Pleurocarpous mosses: systematics and evolution, pp. 177–213. CRC Press, Boca Raton.
Spence, J.R. (2014). Leskeaceae, in Flora of North America Editorial Committee (eds), Flora of North America, vol. 28: Bryophyta, part 2. Oxford University Press, New York.