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Although being recognized as a major force behind speciation in flowering plants, the evolutionary relevance of genome duplication (polyploidization) remains largely unexplored in mosses. Phylogenetic and-genomic insights from the model organism Physcomitrella patens and closely related species revealed that polyploidization, likely via hybridization (allopolyploidization), gives rise to new species within the Funariaceae. Based on the phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear single copy gene BRK1 combined with the measurement of DNA content by flow cytometry, we identified Entosthodon hungaricus as such an allopolyploid species. Together with Physcomitrium pyriforme, Physcomitrium eurystomum and Physcomitrium collenchymatum, which were identified previously as species that likely arose by hybridization, E. hungaricus represents an additional allopolyploid lineage of a species complex that is characterized by convergent sporophyte reduction and a considerable variance in spore sizes. Based on morphological and cytological data from 18 species, we highlight the potential impact of polyploidization on the size of the spores and on sporophyte architecture.

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