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(HMIM)
Insects
include over two third of all known species, however many are still
unknown.
Iran, by reason
of having various climates, contains a relatively divers flora and
fauna. According to the current biographical divisions, Iran is
located in the Palearctic region but some faunal elements of
Afrotropical and oriental regions exist in the southern province.
Hayk Mirzayans
Insect Museum, the largest insect collection in Iran, was founded in
1945. The small laboratory which the late entomologist, Jalal
Afshar, had established in the Ministry of Agriculture in 1943,
later called as Laboratory of Entomology and Plant protection. In
this year a small group of young entomologists started to cooperate
with this laboratory, among them Hayk Mirzayans had great effort in
completing this collection. In this year some Russian entomologists
such as Dr. Alexandrov, DR. Chovachin and Dr. Kiriokhin, cooperated
with this laboratory.
In 1962 after the
foundation of PPDRI this relatively large collection joined to the
PPDRI this relatively large collection joined to the PPDRI as a
division of ITRD.
With the ongoing
activities in this regard and especially the implementation of few
projects such as “Investigation, Collecting and Identification of
Insect Fauna of Iran”, these studies were accelerated. Nowadays the
exiting collection by having about 4 million specimens, containing
many Type specimens has been turned into a national treasure.
In spring 1999,
after Hayk Mirzayans passed away, by the suggestion of the then
Agricultural Minister, in honor of him, this collection was called
Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum (HMIM).
Meanwhile, the
identification of insect fauna of Iran is one of the most objectives
of the Insect Taxonomy Research Department.
In addition to
insect collection halls, Insect Taxonomy Research Department
includes Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, Diptera, Hemiptera and
Isoptera taxonomic laboratory, library and web room. ITRD is the
main authorized reference for insect identification in Iran.
The major
activities of ITRD are as follows:
1.
Conducting
taxonomic and faunal research projects.
2.
Cooperation with
national and international expert.
3.
Identification
service to research, training and executive centers.
4.
Offering training
courses and advising the MSc, PhD studenrt’s these.
5.
Cooperating in
conduction and completion of insect collections in other scientific
and research center.
6.
Publishing
articles, reports, books and checklists.
7.
Providing the
related information to the visitors.
8.
Establishing data bank in the known spesies of insects and providing
the identification softwares.
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