The fruit flies of the genus Tephritis associated with the host plants of closely related asteraceous plant species of Cirsium and Carduus (Asteraceae: Cardueae: Carduinae) are revised. In particular, six species of this group known to occur in the western part of the Palaearctic Region are discussed in this article. Three of them, Tephritis conura (Loew 1844), T. hendelianaHering 1944, and T. hyoscyami (Linnaeus 1758) are widespread, predominantly European species. Two other ones, T. cardualisHardy 1974 from Pakistan and T. atokopteraAgarwal & Kapoor 1988 from India, were previously known mostly from the original descriptions and are redescribed here. Finally, T. anthraxsp. nov. from Caucasian and Transcaucasia mountains is described. Species are keyed and illustrated. New distribution records and host plants are reported.