1988 Volume 64 Pages 71-86
Four orders are recognized as a result of a cladistic analysis of the eight extant genera of the Anthocerotophyta: 1. Anthocerotales Limpr. with two families: Anthocerotaceae Dum. emend. Hässel including Anthoceros [Mich.] L. emend. Prosk. and Sphaerosporoceros Hässel gen. n., and the Notothyladaceae (Milde) K. Müll. ex Prosk. emend. Hässel with the subfamilies Phaeocerotoideae Hässel subfam. n. including Phaeoceros Prosk. and the Notothyladoideae Grolle including Notothylas Sull.; 2. Foliocerotales Hässel ord. n. with one family the Foliocerotaceae Hässel fam. n. including Folioceros Bharadw.; 3. Leiosporocerotales Hässel ord. n. with one family the Leiosporocerotaceae Hässel including Leiosporoceros Hässel; and Dendrocerotales Hässel ord. n. with one family the Dendrocerotaceae (Milde) Hässel corr. et emend. including Dendroceros Nees and Megaceros Campb.
The orders, families, subfamilies and genera are defined and Latin diagnoses are given for the new categories and Sphaerosporoceros Hässel gen. n. SEM photographs of the spores of S. adscendens (Lehm. et Lindenb.) Hässel comb. n. and of S. granulatus (Gott.) Hässel comb. n. are provided. Additionally two figures illustrate the diagnostic characters.