Thoreales is an order of red algae belonging to the class Florideophyceae. The order consists only one family, Thoreaceae Hassall, 1845. The family of Thoreaceae was circumscribed by Arthur Hill Hassall in A history of the British freshwater algae, including descriptions of the Desmideae and Diatomaceae in 1845.

The family was originally placed in the Nemaliales order before being transferred to the newly created Batrachospermales order, before being placed later in Thoreales order in 2002. After various species of the family were analysed for the sequences of the genes coding for the large subunit of RUBISCO (rbcL) and the small subunit of rRNA (18S rRNA).

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