Distribution of snakes (Reptilia: Serpentes) in Georgia: Social media networks help to improve scientific knowledge.

Twentytwo snake species are recorded for Georgia. Over three years (2017–2019), social media (Facebook, iNaturalist and Instagram) was inspected to identify new snake records for Georgia. This led to an increase in the total number of known snake locations by 78% and this gain led to considerable growth of the Extent of Occurrence (up to 269%) and Area of Occupancy (up to 188%) data. The new locations identified by professional and amateur zoologists correlated with the number of locations known from scientific publications. In contrast, occasional sightings reported in social media only weakly correlated with published data, providing valuable information on highly mobile snakes of the family Colubridae, for which observation by professional herpetologists' are disproportionately rare. The study helped improve our knowledge of the range of individual species substantially. Specifically, a number of Colubridae known before only from eastern Georgia were recorded in suitable habitats in the country's western part. There were significant gains in knowledge for Elaphe dione, Zamenis hohenackeri, Hemorrhois ravergieri, and Vipera eriwanensis. Because IUCN categories for reptiles are dependent on the size and shape of their ranges, this information is highly useful for planning the conservation priorities for snakes in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]