Assessment Notes

Justification

Laurilia sulcata is a resupinate species found in Eurasia and North America. Though it is often considered regionally rare, its global population is estimated to exceed 300,000 mature individuals. In Scandinavia, it is found in old-growth conifer forests, which show some decline. However, the global population decline is difficult to estimate given its wide distribution. The species is assessed as Least Concern (LC).

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Taxonomic notes

Laurilia sulcata is the type species of the Laurilia genus. In 2017, another species previously assigned to this genus was transferred to another taxa based on phylogenetic evidence and Laurilia was confirmed as monotypic (Liu et al. 2017).

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Geographic range

The species has a wide distribution in Eurasia and North America. In Europe, most records are from Scandinavia, but it also occurs in Central Europe. In North America it occurs on both the western and eastern coasts, in both Canada and the United States of America, with most records in the northwestern region. However, a few records also exist in Texas and Florida. In Asia, it occurs in Russia, Mongolia, and China. The species has also been recorded once in Taiwan, Province of China and New South Wales, Australia, but these were not considered in this assessment since they appear to be outside the natural distribution and habitat range for this species.

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Population and Trends

This species is known from approximately 582 sites: USA (114), Canada (10), Sweden (291), Finland (64), Norway (40), Switzerland (2), Germany (1), Romania (1), Czechia (1), Austria (1), Slovakia (1), Russia (50), China (4) and Mongolia (1) (Holec et al. 2015, Brandrud et al. 2021, GBIF 2023, MyCoPortal 2023).

The species is thought to be declining in Scandinavia due to a decrease in area/quality of habitat. It has been assessed as Vulnerable and Near Threatened in Sweden and Finland, respectively due to small regional population size and declines (SLU Artdatabanken 2020, FinBIF 2023). There is no information on decline for other regions. It is considered extremely rare in Germany and Critically Endangered in Czechia (Holec and Beran 2006, Dämmrich et al. 2016). However, globally, the population size is estimated to be above 300,000 mature individuals, following guidelines by Dahlberg and Mueller (2011) and assuming six mature individuals exist per site (three logs/trunks per site, each with two mature individuals) and by applying a multiplier of at least 100x for unknown localities.

Population Trend: Unknown

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Habitat and Ecology

Laurilia sulcata is a perennial saprotrophic species that grows on fallen wood of Abies and Picea spp., namely Picea abies, causing white rot. Although in Scandinavia it is generally associated with old-growth boreal forests, its distribution suggests that it occurs in other types of habitats, namely temperate forest.

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Threats

In Scandinavia, the decline in old-growth forests presents a threat for this species, as well as logging and decreases in decaying wood (SLU Artdatabanken 2020, FinBIF 2023).

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Conservation Actions

In Europe, the protection of old-growth forests that constitute a habitat for this species is recommended to prevent further decline. In Norway most known sites are found in protected areas (Brandrud et al. 2021), with some in Sweden as well (SLU Artdatabanken 2020). More research into the taxonomy and habitat preferences is needed to help establish its distribution and threats, and improve estimates of population size.

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Use and Trade

There are no known uses.

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Source and Citation

Cunha, S.P. & Gonçalves, S.C. 2025. Laurilia sulcata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T271051663A271051671. Accessed on 23 November 2025.

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• Country occurrence