Laurilia sulcata is a resupinate species found Eurasia and North America. Though it is often considered regionally rare, its global population is projected to exceed 300000 mature individuals. In Scandinavia, it is found in old-growth conifer forests, which show some decline. However, global population decline is difficult to estimate given its wide distribution. The species is assessed as Least Concern (LC).

Laurilia sulcata is 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).
Synonyms (Species Fungorum, 2023): Stereum sulcatum, Lloydella sulcata, Echinodontium sulcatum, Peniophora cheesmanii, Lopharia cheesmanii, Stereum sulcatum f. crassum

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 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.

This species is known from approximately 582 sites: USA (114), Canada (10), Sweden (291), Finland (64), Norway (40), Switzerland (2), Germany (1), Romania (1), Czech Republic (1), Austria (1), Slovakia (1), Russia (50), China (4), Mongolia (1) (GBIF.org, 2023, MyCoPortal, 2023, Holec et al., 2015, Brandrud et al., 2021).
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 decline (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 the Czech Republic (Dämmrich et al. 2016, Holec and Beran, 2006). However, globally, population size is projected to be above 300 000 individuals, following guidelines by Dahlberg and Mueller (2011) and assuming 6 mature individuals exist per site (3 logs/trunks per site, each with two mature individuals) and by applying a multiplier of at least 100x for unknown locations.

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.

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)

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 distribution, and threats, and improve estimates of population size.

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