Resistive magnetohydrodynamic spectra of toroidal plasmas are calculated using the recently developed Jacobi–Davidson eigenvalue solver. Poloidal mode coupling in finite aspect ratio tokamaks yields gaps in the ideal Alfvén continuous spectrum. If resistivity is included, the ideal continua disappear and are replaced by damped global waves located on specific curves in the complex frequency plane. The end points of these curves join the tips of the ideal continua and the boundaries of the ideal spectral gap. The eigenfunctions of the waves on these resistive curves are shown to have definite parity in the poloidal harmonics. It is shown that for very small toroidicity the topology of the resistive spectrum is completely different from the cylindrical one. Independent of the size of the inverse aspect ratio the ideal gap remains visible in the resistive spectrum.