Dermestidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) of the main Niavaran Palace in Iran

Museums are custodians of both natural and cultural heritage. Items such as tribal dresses, weapons, musical instruments, and other ethnocultural artefacts preserved in museums are prized possessions and intellectual and cultural property of people. These objects are often vulnerable to infestation by insects such as beetles, silverfishes, cockroaches, and microorganisms. Some species of Dermestidae are regarded as serious pests in museum collections, feeding on a variety of items and sometimes even causing massive infestations. In the present study, the results of monitoring all parts of the main Niavaran Palace in Tehran, Iran were analysed. Samples were collected manually, using an aspirator or sticky traps. Over 100 specimens representing 13 species were collected from this building. They belong to various genera including Attagenus Latreille, 1802, Anthrenus Geoffroy, 1762, Dermestes L. 1758, Thylodrias Motschulsky, 1839, and Trogoderma Dejean, 1821. Some of the species were recorded for the first time from Tehran Province.