Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum offers training courses, and helps other scientific research centers in completion and maintenance of their insect collections. ITRD acts as the National Identification Service for governmental or non-governmental organizations, publishes various articles, reports, books, data banks and checklists of its holdings, and provides these information free of charge to all visitors. Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum The Hayk Mirzayans Insect Museum (HMIM) is the largest insect collection in Iran with over 4 million insect specimens, including 20–25,000 local species, hundreds of primary types and paratypes, and a representative collection of exotic insects, especially tropical butterflies. In 1943, Iranian entomologist established a
Swallowtail butterfly species inhabit altitudes ranging from sea level to high mountains, as in the case of most species of "Parnassius". The majority of swallowtail species and the greatest diversity are found in the tropics and subtropical regions between 20°N and 20°S, particularly Southeast Asia, and between 20°N and 40°N in East Asia. Only 12 species are found in Europe and only one species, "Papilio machaon" is found in the British Isles. North America has 40 species, including several tropical species and "Parnassius". The northernmost swallowtail is the Siberian Apollo ("Parnassius arcticus"), found in the Arctic Circle in northeastern Yakutia, at altitudes