Since the publication of the first part of "The Parnassiinae of the World" in 1991, knowledge of the Parnassius has made great progress. New species and many subspecies have been discovered. This has led to an extension of the areas of distribution of most of the Asiatic Parnassius and a challenge to the classification. To start with, this book contains a total revision of Vol. 1 and 2 because in the last years many taxa have been described in the groups analysed in these volumes. The species discussed in Vol. 3 and 4 are not treated as intensively because only a few new subspecies have been added (except P. orleans). Klaus Rose, born on 3rd June 1928 in Bochum (Germany), was a professor of economics (specialised in international economics) at the University of Mainz/Rhine and at the WHU (the National College for Advice in Management) of Vallendar/Koblenz. Additionally, he was an active counselor for the economic policies of the German government. He became an enthusiastic entomologist at an early age and he amassed one of the largest private collections of Palearctic butterflies in Europe. He also undertook many entomological expeditions, firstly in Europe, then in North Africa, the Near and Middle East and then in Pakistan with J-C. Weiss and the late W. Thomas. These trips allowed him to discover new taxa, mainly from Turkey and Iran, which he then described. For the last fifteen years he has spent much of his time clarifying the systematics of the Parnassius, which had undergone a great upheaval as a result of the many recent discoveries made principally in China.
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