Thorea
{{Short description|Genus of algae}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (Pl 16) BHL28887061.jpg
| image_caption =
| taxon = Thorea
| authority = Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1808
| synonyms = Polycoma {{Au|Pasilot de Bauvois, 1808}} unaccepted
Thorella {{Au|B. Gaillon, 1883}} unaccepted
}}
Thorea is a genus of fresh water algae in the division Rhodophyta (red algae).{{cite book |author=R. G. Sheath & A. R. Sherwood |chapter=Phylum Rhodophyta |editor=D. M. John, B. A. Whitton & A. J. Brook |year=2002 |title=The Freshwater Algal Flora of the British Isles |publisher=Cambridge University Press. Cambridge |isbn=0-521-77051-3}} Thorea is a small alga with filaments up to 200 cm long, dark green in colour and not red as are marine Rhodophyta. The filaments have only as few secondary branches.
Thorea is distributed throughout temperate and tropical regions.{{cite journal |author=D. M. John, L. R. Leslie & J. A. Moore |year=1989 |title=Observations on Thorea ramosissima Bory (Batrachospermales, Thoraceae), a freshwater red alga rarely recorded in the British Isles |journal=Br. Phycol. J. |volume=24 |pages=99–102 |doi=10.1080/00071618900650091|doi-access=free }}
The genus was circumscribed by Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent in Ann. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat. vol.12 on page 126 in 1808.
The genus name of Thorea is in honour of Jean Thore (1762–1823), who was a French botanist and physician who practiced medicine in the town of Dax.{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen |trans-title=Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2022 | isbn=978-3-946292-41-8 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2022|format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2022 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}
Species
As accepted by WoRMS;{{cite web |title=WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Thorea Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1808 |url=https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=381052 |website=www.marinespecies.org |access-date=17 November 2022}}
- Thorea bachmannii {{Au|C.Pujals ex R.G.Sheath, M.L.Vis & K.M.Cole, 1993}}
- Thorea brodensis {{Au|Klas, 1936}}
- Thorea clavata {{Au|Seto & Ratansabapathy, 1981}}
- Thorea conturba {{Au|Entwisle & Foard, 1999}}
- Thorea flagelliformis {{Au|Zanardini, 1872}}
- Thorea gaudichaudii {{Au|C.Agardh, 1824}}
- Thorea hispida {{Au|(Thore) Desvaux, 1818}}
- Thorea okadae {{Au|Yamada, 1949}}
- Thorea okaidai {{Au|Yamada}}
- Thorea prowsei {{Au|Ratnasabapathy & Seto, 1981}}
- Thorea riekei {{Au|Bischoff, 1965}}
- Thorea siamensis {{Au|Kumano & Traichaiyaporn, 2008}}
- Thorea violacea {{Au|Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1808}}
- Thorea zollingeri {{Au|F.Schmitz, 1892}}
- Thorea andina {{Au|Lagerheim & Möbius, 1891}} accepted as Thorea hispida (synonym)
- Thorea chilensis {{Au|Montagne}} accepted as Myriogloea chilensis {{Au|(Montagne) A.H.Llaña, 1948}} (synonym)
- Thorea lehmannii {{Au|Hornemann, 1818}} accepted as Thorea hispida (synonym)
- Thorea ramosissima {{Au|Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1808}} accepted as Thorea hispida (synonym)
''Thorea'' in UK
There is only one species of Thorea in the British Isles: Thorea hispida {{Au|(Thore) Desvaux}} (Synonyms: Thorea anadina {{Au|Lagerheim et K.Mobius}}, T. lehmannii {{Au|Horneman}} and T. ramosissima {{Au|Bory}}).
The first record of Thorea ramosissima in the British Isles is in Harvey's Manual (1841):{{cite book |author=W. H. Harvey |year=1841 |title=A Manual of the British Algae:... |url=https://archive.org/details/b29306000 |publisher=John van Voorst, London}} Found in a pool in a bog in the County Donegal Mountains, going from Letterkenny to Dunfanaghy; July. These specimens are in the Ulster Museum (BEL: F42–F47), but proved to have been incorrectly identified and were specimens of Batrachospermum.{{cite journal |author=D. M. John, J. A. Moore & L. R. Johnson |year=1990 |title=The red alga Thorea in the British Isles |journal=Br. Phycol. Newsletter |volume=28 |pages=11–12}}