Levantine viper
Macrovipera lebetinus
Eastern Georgia’s largest venomous viper — a resident of dry, rocky ground.
Overview
What is Levantine viper
The Levantine viper (Macrovipera lebetinus) is a large venomous snake of eastern Georgia’s dry lowlands. The 2026 Georgian checklist treats it as biologically confirmed. The accepted name is M. lebetinus; older literature often uses lebetina. Caucasian populations are usually assigned to the subspecies M. l. obtusa. In Georgia it is confined to the semi-arid south-east — not the west, and not the high mountains. Adults commonly reach about 1–1.5 m. A bite is medically significant and needs emergency care. It is often confused with the eastern Montpellier snake and with large harmless racers.
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Gallery
Levantine viper in photos
Photo: ზაქრო სონგულაშვილი
Photo: ზაქრო სონგულაშვილი
Photo: იოანე როსტიაშვილი
Kvareli ·
Photo: იოანე როსტიაშვილი
Kvareli ·
Photo: იოანე როსტიაშვილი
Kvareli ·
Photo: Nino Khvedelidze
Nekresi Monastery ·
Photo: Nino Khvedelidze
Nekresi Monastery ·
Photo: Shota Zandukeli
Photo: Shota Zandukeli
Identification
How to identify Levantine viper
A heavy-bodied viper with a broad triangular head, a vertical pupil and keeled scales. In eastern dry country it is confused with large racers and the Montpellier snake.
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The body is thick and heavy. The head is broad and triangular, clearly set off from the neck; the snout is blunt, with no horn. In the Caucasus adults commonly reach about 1–1.5 m; reports of 2 m are debated.
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The pupil is a vertical slit. Dorsal scales are keeled — each has a raised ridge. Head shields, including those above the eye, are broken into small keeled scales.
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Ground colour is grey, sandy or brown. The back has dark blotches or cross-bars, sometimes in a zigzag. The belly is pale, often with fine dark speckles. Uniform individuals also occur.
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The eastern Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus) has a round pupil and raised “eyebrows”; it is slimmer and hunts by day. Large racers (Dolichophis) have a round pupil and a fast, slender body — not a viper’s heavy build.
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The steppe viper can occur in the same east, but it is much smaller (about 40–60 cm). The Transcaucasian long-nosed viper has a nose horn and is tied to mountains. Dinnik’s viper lives in the Greater Caucasus highlands — not in this species’ habitat.
Quiz
Next: which snake is it?
Levantine viper is in the Georgia snake quiz. Ten field photos, four names — eye practice, not field ID.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
Look for it on dry, stony and rocky ground — not in Colchic forest and not in the Greater Caucasus highlands. Confirmed country sources place it along the lower Iori, Mtkvari and Alazani, in Shiraki, Gareji and the dry foothills of Kvemo Kartli. It is scarce around Tbilisi and Rustavi. This atlas maps Kakheti, Kvemo Kartli and Tbilisi. Named localities from photographs on this site include Kvareli and Nekresi Monastery, in the Alazani valley. It shelters in rock crevices, under stones, in rodent burrows and sometimes in buildings; in summer heat it is often near water. Georgian sources give an upper elevation of about 1,500 m. There is no confirmed range in western Georgia.
Diet
Adults take mainly rodents; also small birds, lizards and other small vertebrates. Juveniles hunt mostly small lizards. It hunts by ambush. It sometimes climbs shrubs or trees to catch birds.
Behavior
In Transcaucasia the active season is usually April to late October; some sources note emergence from late March. In spring and autumn it often moves by day; in summer heat it is active at dusk and at night. It overwinters in rock crevices and burrows. It lays eggs — Georgia’s other vipers give live birth. Mating is in April–May. Georgian sources report about 15–20 eggs in summer; hatchlings are about 23–25 cm after roughly 35–45 days. If you meet one, keep your distance and do not pick it up. It defends itself when it feels threatened — it does not hunt people.
Conservation
The 2021 IUCN assessment lists it as Least Concern. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List, which does include Dinnik’s viper and the Caucasus viper. Older Georgian encyclopedias sometimes place it in the Red Book; that does not match the 2014 list. Threats include habitat conversion, urbanisation, overgrazing and persecution. As a rodent predator it belongs in the food web of dry landscapes.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Levantine viper.
Yes. The 2026 checklist treats it as biologically confirmed. It occurs only in the semi-arid east — not throughout the country.
Along the lower Iori, Mtkvari and Alazani, in Shiraki, Gareji and the dry foothills of Kvemo Kartli. It is scarce around Tbilisi and Rustavi. The map marks Kakheti, Kvemo Kartli and Tbilisi. Named places include Kvareli and Nekresi Monastery. It is absent from western Georgia.
Yes. Among Georgia’s snakes it has the highest medical risk — it is large and injects more venom. Other vipers are also venomous, but this species is the most dangerous by size and venom effect. It does not attack unless it feels threatened. A bite needs emergency medical care.
Call 112 immediately. Keep the person still and calm; do not cut, suck or apply a tight tourniquet. Treatment is in hospital; antivenom is a medical decision.
It is a large, thick snake with a broad triangular head, a vertical pupil and keeled scales. It has no nose horn. Large racers and the Montpellier snake have a round pupil and a slimmer body.
In the Caucasus adults commonly reach about 1–1.5 m. It is Georgia’s largest viper. Reports of 2 m are debated.
It lays eggs. Georgia’s Vipera species give live birth. Mating is in April–May; Georgian sources report about 15–20 eggs in summer.
Keep your distance, watch it and leave it where it is. Do not pick it up or kill it. It will not chase a person who gives it space.
- Tarkhnishvili et al. 2026 — Annotated checklist of Georgia's amphibians and reptiles
- Iankoshvili & Tarkhnishvili 2021 — Distribution of snakes in Georgia
- Aghasyan et al. 2021 — IUCN Red List account for Macrovipera lebetina
- Avella et al. 2025 — The biology and toxinology of blunt-nosed vipers
- The Reptile Database
- National Geographic Georgia / National Museum — Levantine viper map
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- მუსხელიშვილი — ენციკლოპედია „საქართველო“ (გიურზა)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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