Phytoecia astarte, a widely distributed West-Asian species occuring from Iran to Lebanon, has been described from Asia Minor by Ludwig Ganglbauer in 1886 [✧]. Its subspecies P. astarte perrini, occuring in Lebanon and Syria, has been described from Lebanon as Phytoecia (Musaria) Perrini by Maurice Pic in 1891 [✳].

In Syria Phytoecia (Musaria) astarte perrini is is associated with Cirsium cf. lappaceum M. B. (Asteraceae) [❖].

Body length:	10 - 15 mm
Life cycle:	1 year
Adults in:	May - July
Host plant:	Cirsium cf. lappaceum M. B.
Distribution:	Syria, Lebanon

The mounted specimen was collected in Bloudan (بلودان‎) environs (Antilebanon Mts., Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria). on May 103, 2005. The depicted living beetle was collected on the host plant in Tannourine Cedars Forest Nature Reserve environs (N34°12′28″ E35°56′09″′; Bsharri district, North governorate, Lebanon) on May 11, 2017.

Collected by Petr Viktora and Tamás Németh

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[✧]
Ganglbauer L.:
Neue und weniger bekannte Longicornier des paläarktischen Faunengebietes.
Verhandlungen der kaiserlich-königlichen zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 35 [1885]: 515-524, 1886. [download ]

[✳]
Pic M.:
Séance du 9 décembre 1891. [descriptions de trois Longicornes d'Asie Mineure].
Bulletin de la Société Entomologique de France 60 (12) [1891]: clxxxv-clxxxvii, 1892. [download ]

[❖]
Rejzek M., Sama G., Alziar G.:
Host plants of several herb-feeding Cerambycidae mainly from east Mediterranean region (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae).
Biocosme Mésogéen 17 (4): 263-294, 2001. [download ]

Sama G., Rapuzzi P. and Kairouz A.:
Catalogue commenté des Cerambycidae du Liban. An annotated catalogue of the Cerambycidae of Lebanon (Insecta Coleoptera Cerambycidae).
Quaderni di Studi e Notizie di Storia Naturale della Romagna 30: 131-201, 2010. [download ]