Phyllosticta capitalensis causes black spot on persimmon (Diospyros kaki) fruit in Taiwan

An unrecorded disease of persimmon (Diospyros kaki) with black spot symptoms on its mature fruit sporadically occurred in central Taiwan in August 2014. The causal agent was isolated and re-inoculated to show its pathogenicity on persimmon. The pathogen was identified as Phyllosticta capitalensis based on morphology of its ascospores and conidia, and molecular barcodes from ex-type sequences on GenBank of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), the actin gene (ACT) and the translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene (TEF1). This is the first report of persimmon disease caused by P. capitalensis in Taiwan.