Species atlas

Georgia sits between the Black Sea, the Greater Caucasus, and the arid east — a short geographic span that supports vipers of high mountains and Colchic forests, water snakes of rivers and wetlands, racers of dry foothills, and a widespread legless lizard often mistaken for a snake. Reptile profiles here carry Georgia-specific range notes and photos.

Species richness here is shaped by elevation, humidity, and refuge habitats. Western Colchic landscapes favor moisture-linked snakes such as Natrix; eastern semi-arid basins hold Macrovipera lebetinus and fast colubrids; the subalpine belt holds mountain vipers such as Vipera dinniki, which the Tarkhnishvili et al. 2026 checklist marks as a candidate taxon. This section is about reptiles — snakes, lizards, and turtles.

Only a minority of Georgia’s snakes are medically significant. A species counts as venomous when it poses a moderate or high risk to humans: the Levantine viper (Macrovipera lebetinus), Caucasus viper (Vipera kaznakovi), Dinnik’s viper (Vipera dinniki), nose-horned viper (Vipera ammodytes transcaucasiana), Darevsky’s viper (Vipera darevskii), and steppe viper (Vipera renardi), plus the eastern Montpellier snake (Malpolon insignitus), a rear-fanged species that is not a viper. The Tarkhnishvili et al. 2026 checklist marks the Caucasus viper and Dinnik’s viper as candidate taxa. Most other snakes here — grass snake, dice snake, racers, smooth snake, cat snake — are harmless to people, though several are frequently misidentified.

Safe encounter practice is simple: do not handle wild snakes, keep distance, and learn the lookalikes common in your region. Open each profile for identification traits, habitat, and conservation status. This is educational natural-history guidance, not emergency medical advice.

• Dinnik's viper
• Levantine viper
• Caucasus viper
• Nose-horned viper
• Darevsky's viper
• Eastern steppe viper
• Eastern Montpellier Snake

Full guide: venomous snakes in Georgia →

Frogs, toads, newts, and the Caucasian salamander sit in the same catalog, with dedicated guides. This is not a complete national list — only published profiles.

Amphibians of Georgia →

Bird profiles follow the same rule: named sources, and a range only where a source names the region. The list is growing and does not replace the national avifauna checklist.

Birds of Georgia →

Mammal pages use the same profile structure. Few are published yet — absence from this catalog does not mean the species is absent from Georgia.

Mammals of Georgia →

Spider pages follow the same rule: named sources, and a range only where a source names the region. The list grows with new profiles when a sourced page is ready.

Spiders of Georgia →

Distribution is recorded by Georgia’s administrative regions as a practical field layer — from Abkhazia and Adjara on the humid west to Kakheti and Kvemo Kartli in the dry east, plus the capital district of Tbilisi. A species may appear in several regions; species tied to particular elevations or habitats are more narrowly placed.

Use the map to move from place to fauna, then open regional pages for habitats, safety notes, and the local species list. For research-grade occurrence data, profiles also cite databases such as GBIF and the Reptile Database alongside IUCN assessments where available.

Regions atlas →