Fossombroniaceae [SEP] parent taxon
Fossombroniaceae
Fossombroniaceae (sometimes Riccardiaceae) is a family of liverworts in the order Metzgeriales. Most species are small and thallose, but the thallus is typically ruffled to give the appearance of being leafy.
The family was long called the Codoniaceae, Klinggr. 1858, because this is the older name. But since the genus "Codonia" is a synonym of "Fossombronia", the name Fossombroniaceae was proposed (and accepted) as a conserved name under the rules of the ICBN.
Taxon in disguise
In bacteriology, a taxon in disguise is a species, genus or higher unit of biological classification whose evolutionary history reveals has evolved from another unit of similar or lower rank, making the parent unit paraphyletic. This happens when rapid evolution makes a new species appear radically different from the ancestral group, so that it is not (initially) recognised as belonging to the parent phylogenetic group, leaving the latter an evolutionary grade.
While the term is from bacteriology, parallel examples are found throughout the tree of