Meadow Lizard

Q: Is the meadow lizard found in Georgia?

Yes. The 2026 checklist treats it as biologically confirmed. Georgian populations belong to eastern and central Georgia. It is not nationwide.

Q: Where can it be found in Georgia?

At forest edges and grassy clearings in eastern–central Georgia. Named recent points are Sioni and Tushurebi (Tianeti). Literature also names Lagodekhi, Tsiv-Gombori, and the Surami Pass. Do not search the Colchic coast.

Q: Is it venomous or dangerous to people?

No. It has no venom. If grabbed it may bite; the tail may break. Leave it where it is.

Q: How can it be identified?

A small ground lizard with an unflattened head, at forest edges. Colour is not enough. A flattened head on rock is another Darevskia. In the northwest it may be pontica; in the same forest it may be derjugini.

Q: How large does it grow?

Snout–vent length is usually under 6.5 cm. A full Georgian measurement series is not on this page.

Q: Is it the same as the Pontic meadow lizard?

Not in this atlas. pontica is the northwestern Pontic populations and a candidate species. Genetic isolation is not fully demonstrated; rank varies in the literature. Colour will not tell them apart.

Q: What does it eat?

Diet has not been studied separately in Georgia. A Balkan study found mainly spiders, beetles, and other small invertebrates.

Q: When is it active?

By day, in the warm season. A full Georgian calendar is not on this page. In the Balkans it is described from spring into late summer.

Darevskia praticola

A harmless, ground-dwelling lizard of eastern and central Georgia. Colour does not separate species.

Eastern and central Georgia — Sioni, TushurebiRisk to humansHarmless

At a glance

Key facts in one look

Habitat

Forest edge / meadow

Size

SVL usually <6.5 cm

Activity

Diurnal

Venom

None — harmless

Conservation

NT (IUCN)

Checklist

Confirmed

Family

Lacertidae

Human interaction: It is not venomous and poses no medical risk. If handled it may bite; the tail may break. Leave it where it is. Do not keep wild animals.

Overview

What is Meadow Lizard

The meadow lizard (Darevskia praticola) is a harmless, ground-dwelling lizard of eastern and central Georgia. It belongs to the true lizard family (Lacertidae). It has no venom and is not dangerous to people. The 2026 Georgian checklist treats it as biologically confirmed, not as a candidate species. Georgian populations here belong to the nominotypical lineage (D. p. praticola). Pontic populations of the northwest are treated separately in this atlas as the Pontic meadow lizard (Darevskia pontica), a candidate species. Snout–vent length at species level is usually under 6.5 cm. IUCN assessed it as Near Threatened in 2009. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List. Do not assume it throughout the country: humid Colchis and the Black Sea coast are pontica in this account, not this species.

Last updated 8 September 2026

Gallery

Meadow Lizard in photos

Meadow Lizard (Darevskia praticola) — Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park — Zauri Khachidze — Photo: Zauri Khachidze
Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park · 27 April 2023

Meadow Lizard (Darevskia praticola) — Eastern and central Georgia — Sioni, Tushurebi

Distribution

Where Meadow Lizard lives in Georgia

Highlighted regions show where this species has been recorded.

Identification

How to identify Meadow Lizard

A small ground lizard with an unflattened head, at forest edges and meadows. Colour is not enough among Darevskia — use habitat, head shape, and range.

It lives on the ground, not on rock faces. The head is less flattened than in rock Darevskia. The back is often brown or olive-brown; a pale stripe often runs along each side of the back. That is a typical look and does not separate species by colour.
Snout–vent length at species level is usually under 6.5 cm. The measured East Georgian series is small (Tuniyev et al. 2013: a few adults); a full Georgian morphometric series is not on this page. Females are often slightly larger than males. Do not catch the lizard to count scales.
The Pontic meadow lizard (D. pontica) in this atlas is the northwestern Pontic populations. The type locality is Gagra. Colour will not tell them apart; range is more reliable than dorsal pattern. The Artvin lizard (D. derjugini) is also terrestrial but a different forest lineage and is more widespread in the west; it is also barcoded at Sioni — they can co-occur, and colour does not separate them. The sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) is larger, has a different pattern, and is another genus. Rock Darevskia may be in the same valley but are on rock, with a flatter head.
Described in 1834 (Eversmann) as Lacerta praticola. The type locality is in the North Caucasus (Kislovodsk / Narzan), not in Georgia. The genus Darevskia dates from 1997. Checklist figures show head scalation and preanal plates (Sioni Reservoir).
The 2026 Georgian checklist treats it as biologically confirmed, not as a candidate species. Georgian populations belong to eastern and central Georgia. Humid Colchis and the Black Sea coast are pontica in this account, not this species. Colour does not separate the Pontic meadow lizard (D. pontica); range is more reliable than dorsal pattern.

Similar species

Often confused with

Darevskia derjugini

Derjugin's Lizard

Western Georgia and the forest belt of eastern Georgia

Darevskia pontica

Pontic Meadow Lizard

Abkhazia — Gagra (type locality); northwestern Pontic populations

Lacerta agilis

Sand Lizard

Western Georgia; east above 600–800 m

Quiz

Next: which lizard is it?

Meadow Lizard is in the Georgia lizard quiz. Ten field photos, four names — eye practice, not field ID.

Start the quiz

Biology

Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation

Habitat and range

It occurs in Georgia. Look for it at deciduous forest edges, clearings, grassy openings, and woodland meadows — on the ground and in leaf litter, not on rock faces. Most Darevskia live on rocks; this species and the Artvin lizard (D. derjugini) are exceptions. Tarkhnishvili et al. 2026 assign Georgian populations to eastern and central Georgia. Named recent points are Sioni Reservoir (head-scalation figure) and Sioni–Tushurebi (COI barcodes; Tushurebi is in Tianeti Municipality). Distribution confidence is medium. This atlas map marks Mtskheta — Mtianeti from those records; that does not mean the species is limited to two points. Older material indicates a wider eastern–central range: Lagodekhi (ZISP, 1980, Darevsky), the Tsiv-Gombori Ridge, the Surami Pass (ZISP, 1963, Shida Kartli), and the Kartli ridges (Muskhelishvili 1964–1970; Tuniyev et al. 2013). Those are historical and museum records; present status at every site is not re-checked on this page. Whether Armenian loriensis reaches adjacent eastern Georgia is, according to Tuniyev et al. 2013, still unclear — do not treat it as confirmed here. An exact Georgian elevational limit is not given in the checklist. In Armenia the nominotypical complex is reported from about 600–2,000 m in the forest belt; that is an Armenian interval, not a measured Georgian range. Do not search for this species on the Colchic lowland or the Black Sea coast.

Diet

This page has no Georgian stomach-content study. In Bulgaria it eats mainly arthropods: often spiders, beetles, and leafhoppers; it usually avoids ants (Vacheva & Naumov 2022). That is a Balkan menu, not a list for Georgian sites. It seizes prey in the mouth; it has no venom.

Behavior

It is active by day. It moves on the ground and basks at forest edges and in grass; in Serbian material activity may stop on very hot days as animals seek shade (Ćorović & Crnobrnja-Isailović 2018). That is a Balkan observation, not a Georgian hourly table. It lays eggs. In Serbia mating is in April–May, eggs are laid in June, one clutch a season, often 4–8 eggs (Ljubisavljević et al. 2008). In the Hyrcanian subspecies (Azerbaijan) clutches are 1–6 eggs. Neither calendar is measured for Georgian populations. If threatened it runs; if grabbed, the tail may break and the lizard may bite. Watch it and leave it where it is. Do not pick it up.

Conservation

IUCN assessed it as Near Threatened in 2009 (Agasyan and co-authors) because of a fragmented range. That assessment is old and covers the wide, disjunct species range, not a separate Georgian population trend. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Resolution No. 190). Tarkhnishvili et al. 2026 treat it as biologically confirmed. Freitas et al. 2016 recover three clades (Balkans; western Greater Caucasus; Transcaucasia) and do not fully support the morphology-based subspecies. Rank of pontica (species vs subspecies) is inconsistent in the literature; the checklist leaves it as a candidate because effective genetic isolation is not shown. Literature names forest-edge clearance and fragmentation as local threats. A Georgian population trend is not measured here. It is not listed on CITES. Do not take wild lizards.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Short answers to the most important questions about Meadow Lizard.