Cáucaso occidental
Separation of the genus Darevskia from the subfamily Lacertinae occurred approximately 12-16 million years ago, in the middle of the Miocene. Presumably, the ancestral form of the genus Darevskia penetrated the territory of the Western Caucasus in the Middle Miocene or in the Middle Pliocene, when there was a land connection between Asia Minor and the Balkans.