Zygodon Hook. & Tayl., Muscol. Brit. 70. 1818.
Amphidium Nees in Sturm., Deutschl. Fl., Abt. II, Cryptog. 5(17): 2. 1819.
Codonoblepharon Schwaegr., Sp. Musc. Frond., Suppl. 2(2): 142. 1824.
Amphoridium Schimp., Syn. Musc. Eur. 247. 1860.
Bryomaltaea Goffinet in Goffinet & Vitt, Bryol. Twenty-first Cent. 151. 1998, syn. nov.
Small to medium-sized plants in mats or tufts, occasionally scattered in patches of 1–10 individuals, dark- or light-green above, reddish brown below, sparsely to moderately tomentose. Stems erect to ascending, central strand absent. Leaves imbricate, contorted‑appressed or somewhat spirally twisted when dry, spreading to recurved when wet, ovate, oblong‑lanceolate, lanceolate or linear‑lanceolate, keeled; apices acute, obtuse or lingulate, often apiculate; margins plane above, plane or recurved at base, entire or serrate to dentate at the apex, occasionally dentate at base; costae strong, ending below the apex, percurrent to excurrent; upper cells irregularly rounded, incrassate, papillose by 1–7 small, simple, widely spaced papillae or smooth, basal cells linear or rectangular, thick- or thin-walled, smooth. Brood bodies often present, elliptic, ovoid or cylindrical, with transverse, vertical or oblique septa. Dioicous, autoicous, or synoicous. Perichaetial leaves not much differentiated. Setae erect. Capsules exserted, erect, pyriform to cylindrical, 8‑plicate; stomata superficial; peristome double, single or absent, exostome teeth often united in 8 pairs, endostome segments 8 or 16. Spores isosporous, smooth or papillose. Calyptrae cucullate, naked, smooth.