First records of Japanese gall‐forming thrips Ponticulothrips diospyrosi Haga & Okajima, 1983 (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) in Europe

The Japanese gall-forming thrips Ponticulothrips diospyrosi Haga & Okajima, 1983 (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae) is a monophagous species associated with persimmon (Diospyros kaki). Until now, P. diospyrosi was limited to the Asian continent (Japan and the Republic of Korea), but in 2023 and 2024, this species was first observed on persimmon trees in private gardens in Italy (Lombardy) and Switzerland (Ticino), respectively. The observed P. diospyrosi induced margin-roll galls on persimmon leaves, and some fruits also showed dotted scars characteristic of thrips on the skin. Insects were collected and identified through morphological and molecular analyses (sequencing). To our knowledge and based on the geographical distribution, this is the first report of the Japanese gall-forming thrips P. diospyrosi in Europe. DNA sequences of both Italian and Swiss specimens obtained in this work represent the first submission on international DNA sequence databases.