Nose-horned viper
Vipera ammodytes
Georgia’s nose-horned viper — a venomous snake of dry rocky slopes in the Lesser Caucasus, not the Black Sea coast.
Overview
What is Nose-horned viper
The nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes) is a venomous snake of the viper family. The 2026 Georgian checklist treats it as biologically confirmed. Caucasian animals belong to the subspecies V. a. transcaucasiana, described from Borjomi. Older books and some databases still use Vipera transcaucasiana as a full species. It does not occur throughout Georgia. Look for it on dry, rocky ground in the Lesser Caucasus — Meskheti, Trialeti, the upper Mtkvari basin — not in humid Colchic forest and not in the Greater Caucasus highlands. Adults of this form usually stay under about 75 cm. A bite is medically significant. IUCN still lists the split name V. transcaucasiana as Near Threatened; Georgia’s 2014 Red List does not include this taxon.
Last updated
Gallery
Nose-horned viper in photos
Photo: Vojtěch Víta
Photo: ზაური ხაჩიძე
Photo: Hectonichus
Photo: Tigran Tadevosyan
Photo: Giorgi Iankoshvili
Photo: Wouter Beukema
Photo: Diego Reggianti
Identification
How to identify Nose-horned viper
A stout viper with a true nose horn, a vertical pupil and keeled scales. In Georgia the horn and dry Lesser Caucasus habitat are the main field marks.
- 01
The diagnostic mark is a horn on the snout, built of 9–17 small scales in two to four rows, usually three. No other Georgian viper has a true nose horn. The head is broad and set off from the neck. Adults of the Caucasian form usually stay under about 75 cm; females are generally larger than males.
- 02
The pupil is a vertical slit. Dorsal scales are strongly keeled. Ground colour is often light grey, ash or grey-white. The back usually has narrow cross-bars or blotches rather than one bold, continuous zigzag. The horn and the top of the head are typically without heavy dark mottling; a weak V-mark may sit on the nape. The iris is often golden or copper.
- 03
The smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) has a round pupil, smooth scales and no horn; it is not venomous. The Caucasus viper has no horn, lives in humid Colchic country, and is often brick-red or orange. Dinnik’s viper is a Greater Caucasus highland snake without a horn. Darevsky’s viper is smaller and tied to the Javakheti–Erusheti highlands. The Levantine viper is much larger (about 1–1.5 m), has a blunt snout and lives in the dry south-east lowlands.
- 04
In the middle Mtkvari contact zone, rare hybrids with the Caucasus viper may show an upturned but hornless snout. That is not a third species. Do not handle any viper to count scales.
- 05
It is venomous (high risk in this atlas — medically significant, though the Levantine viper is larger and injects more venom). A bite needs emergency medical care. Do not pick it up.
Quiz
Next: which snake is it?
Nose-horned 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, rocky slopes with sparse vegetation — stone, scrub, forest edges, stone walls and vineyards. A Georgian snake-distribution study places it among species of reasonably dry, rocky or grassland country, mostly in the east. This atlas maps Adjara, Samtskhe — Javakheti, Shida Kartli, Kvemo Kartli and Tbilisi. Named Georgian localities include the type series from Borjomi, barcoded animals from Gomaro (Adigeni) and Tashiskari, and a live specimen from Gori in the 2026 checklist. A biodiversity map of the South Caucasus summarises the range as Lesser Caucasus mountains from the Tbilisi area to Shuakhevi in highland Adjara. Traditional regional accounts also take the upper Mtkvari towards Akhalkalaki; that western Javakheti limit is not re-mapped locality by locality on this page. It is not a Black Sea coastal snake like the Caucasus viper. Literature often gives an upper elevation of about 1,700 m; a sea-level range inside Georgia is not established here. The range continues into northern Anatolia. Records from Armenia, Azerbaijan or Iran are disputed and are not treated as confirmed Georgian range.
Diet
Adults take lizards and small mammals; small birds are recorded less often. Juveniles hunt mainly small lizards. It hunts by ambush and subdues prey with venom. There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page; these are species-level data from the nose-horned viper.
Behavior
It is active in the warm season. In cool spring and autumn weather it often moves by day; in summer heat activity shifts to evening and early night. It overwinters in rock crevices and under stones. It gives live birth (eggs develop inside the female; the young are born alive). Mating is in spring; young are born in late summer or early autumn. Litter size has not been measured in a dedicated Georgian study; Balkan museum samples of this species average about nine young (about 5–17). 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. In the middle Mtkvari valley a narrow contact zone with the Caucasus viper produces rare intermediate animals (the old name Vipera pontica). Those snakes may have an upturned snout but no true horn.
Conservation
IUCN’s 2009 assessment (2017 errata) lists Vipera transcaucasiana as Near Threatened. That name is the split Caucasian taxon. If the animals are treated as V. ammodytes, the species as a whole is much more widespread in Europe. Georgia’s 2014 Red List includes Dinnik’s viper and the Caucasus viper, not this taxon. Older USSR and Georgian Red Books did list it; that does not match the 2014 list. The Bern Convention lists V. ammodytes among species needing special protection. Threats include conversion of rocky slopes, agriculture and killing by people. Populations are described as scarce and fragmented in Georgia. The 2026 checklist keeps a conservative subspecies rank for Georgian animals: some genomic work links them more closely to southern Balkan lineages, but the authors do not elevate them to a separate species.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Nose-horned viper.
Yes. The 2026 checklist treats it as biologically confirmed. Georgian animals are the Caucasian subspecies V. a. transcaucasiana. The type locality is Borjomi. It does not occur throughout the country.
On dry, rocky ground in the Lesser Caucasus — Meskheti, Trialeti, the upper Mtkvari basin, and highland Adjara towards Shuakhevi. The map marks Adjara, Samtskhe — Javakheti, Shida Kartli, Kvemo Kartli and Tbilisi. It is not a Colchic coastal species.
It is venomous. In this atlas the risk is high: a bite can cause serious local and systemic illness and needs hospital care. It does not attack unless it feels threatened. Do not pick it up. The Levantine viper is Georgia’s largest and, by size, the highest-risk snake.
Call 112 immediately. Keep the person still and calm; do not cut, suck or apply a tight tourniquet. Treatment is in hospital.
It is the only Georgian viper with a true nose horn. It has a vertical pupil, keeled scales and often a grey back with narrow cross-bars. The smooth snake has a round pupil and no horn.
Caucasian adults usually stay under about 75 cm. Females are generally larger than males. It is much shorter than the Levantine viper.
Same animals, different rank. The 2026 checklist uses V. ammodytes, subspecies transcaucasiana. IUCN still assesses the split name V. transcaucasiana as Near Threatened. Balkan V. ammodytes without the Caucasian subspecies name is not a separate Georgian species.
The 2014 government list follows other names (Dinnik’s and Caucasus vipers). The IUCN NT grade applies to the split Caucasian taxon. Older Red Books listed it; that is not the 2014 list.
- Tarkhnishvili et al. 2026 — Annotated checklist of Georgia's amphibians and reptiles
- Iankoshvili & Tarkhnishvili 2021 — Distribution of snakes in Georgia
- Boulenger 1913 — On the geographical races of Vipera ammodytes
- Tuniyev et al. 2009 — IUCN Red List account for Vipera transcaucasiana
- Raaijmakers et al. 2026 — Intermediate kaznakovi × transcaucasiana from central Georgia
- Mulder 2017 — Distribution of V. a. transcaucasiana in Turkey
- The Reptile Database
- National Geographic Georgia / National Museum — South Caucasian sand viper map
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
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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