Dermestidae (Insecta: Coleoptera) of Niavaran Museum with a new record for Iran

Museum collections are national assets of any country and also are very susceptible to pest damage. Moreover pests in a museum, library or archive environment can cause severe damage to highly valuable and irreplaceable materials. Hence, constantly monitoring of the collections against pest activity is essential in museums. Dermestidae family is known as one of serious pests in the museum collections which feed on various products and cause high infestation. In current study, we present the results of monitoring of all parts of two buildings of The Niavaran Palace Complex, including the private library and Ahmad Shahi Pavilion in Tehran, Iran. The following species of the dermestids have been collected and recorded for the first time from Tehran and Niavaran Museum: Thylodrias contractus Motschulsky, 1839, Attagenus lobatus Rosenhauer, 1856, Anthrenus (Anthrenops) coloratus Reitter, 1881, A. (Anthrenus) picturatus picturatus Solsky, 1876. Moreover, Thylodrias contractus Motschulsky, 1839 is recorded for the first time from Iran.