The species is known from four countries, but it has only been documented 10 times since it was published in 1950.  It is primarily restricted to tropical limestone seasonal rain forest, growing on hard wood trunks.  But two recent collections from Singapore were not found on limestone.  This species is potentially widely distributed but apparently very rare at each site.  The population size is currently impossible to estimate given the amount of potential habitat that has not been adequately surveyed. Therefore it is assessed as DD and further exploration to better document its distribution and ecology is needed.

Synonym: Physalacria sulphurea (Corner) Singer (1976)
This species was described by Corner (1950) as the type species of the genus Hormomitaria. Singer (1976) transferred it to the genus Physalacria, as P. sulphurea (Corner) Singer. Our recent molecular phylogenetic analysis showed that it is a species of Physalacria.

According to existing reports, P. sulphurea showed a very low population size in the distribution range. Habitat loss and degradation by human activities will have a serious impact on the survival of the species. Though, the evidence doesn’t reveal whether its population is increasing or decreasing now. It is necessary to put it in the Global Fungal Red List to have a comprehensive protection.
We suggest this species to be categorized as Vulnerable (VU).

The species is known from four countries but it has only been documented 10 times since it was published in 1950:  Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, Australia on 1 June 1982;  Sabah, Malaysia on 4 December 1985 (Hjortstam & Spooner er.al 1990); Kedah, Malaysia in 1950 and 1981; Gulinqing, Maguan County, Yunnan Provence, China on 30 July 2020. In addition, there are two reports in Queensland, Australian,May 2019 and January 2020 and july 4 2020 in iNaturalist website. Most recently, there are two reports from Singapore.  As the habitat (rain forests on limestone) occurs scattered across South East Asia, the species likely occurs in low numbers in other countries. This species is potentially widely distributed but apparently very rare at each site.

This species has currently been reported for three countries: Australian, Malaysia and China. The largest number of records present in Australia with three records. There is not enough information about the trend of the population of P. sulphurea.

Primarily restricted to tropical limestone seasonal rain forest, growing on hard wood trunks.  But two recent collections from Singapore were not found on limestone habitat.

The main threat to P. sulphurea is the destruction of the original habitat by human activities, such as the clearance of dead trees under forest or exploitation of virgin forests for the cultivation of cash crops, e.g., rubber tree plantations.

Habitat protection and management are very urgent and necessary. Strengthening external publicity and driving more attention to the species are also necessary protection measures.

More survey work to better understand it population size and distribution.

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