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This is a large Boloria; the upperside is bright orange with a well-defined, crisp, black pattern. The silvery white hindwing underside median band, and overall brighter colour, will disintguish it from B. alberta. The Astarte Fritillary was described from specimens collected at Rock Lake near Jasper. It has been treated as a subspecies of the European B. tritonia by some authors (eg. Guppy & Shepard 2001) due to the apparent absence of disinguishing morphological traits between the two; more evidence is however needed to support this interpretation.

The immature stages are undescribed. The life cycle takes two years to complete, the larva overwintering in the early instars and again when mature (Guppy & Shepard 2001). As a result this species flies only in odd- or even-numbered years at some localities. In Alberta, it flies every year at Plateau Mountain, but has only been recorded in odd-numbered years in the Cardinal Divide area. Males hilltop, and fly rapidly along alpine ridges and peaks.

The nominate subspecies is found from northeastern BC to northern Washington and northwestern Montana; B. astarte distincta, possibly a species separate from astarte (Layberry et al. 1998), occurs from northwestern BC to Alaska (Scott 1986).