Nikolai Alekseyvich Zarudny (Russian: Николай Алексеевич Зарудный[note 1]) (September 13, 1859 – March 17, 1919[1]) was a Ukrainian-Russian explorer and zoologist of Ukrainian origin, who studied the fauna, especially the birds of Central Asia. He was born in Gryakovo, Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire). He wrote his first ornithology book in 1896 and made five expeditions in the Caspian region from 1884 and 1892.[1] He led other expeditions to Persia supported by the Russian Geographic Society and the St. Petersburg Zoological Institute. He collected nearly 3,140 specimens of birds and 50,000 insects. After the Russian Revolution, his collection was nationalized by the Bolsheviks and moved to the museum at the University of Tashkent. For his work the Russian Geographical Society awarded him the Przhevalsky Medal.[2] While at Tashkent, his last work on the ornithology of Turkestan region was not completed as he died of accidental poisoning. He published 218 monographs in the course of his life and named many species.[2] Among the species and other taxa named after Zarudny are Zarudny's Jird, Zarudny's Rock Shrew, Diplometopon zarudnyi, Schizothorax zarudnyi, and the distinctive Asian subspecies of the Desert Sparrow (Passer simplex zarudnyi).[3]