Newts &Salamanders Diff.

[yama]

Im sure u guys have aswered this before,but whats the difference between newts and salamanders?

 

[ben_tajer]

Well the truth is, there's not really that much scientifically what constitutes a newt and what constitutes a salamander. In general newts are more amphibious in that they spend more equal portions of time in and out of the water, while more exclusively terrestrial and aquatic animals tend to be called salamanders. For the most part it refers to caudates from the family Salamandridae, except for those from the genus Salamandra. One thing a lot of newts do that salamanders don't, is that the male develops a large crest during breeding, but not all newts do this. Also, if it's over a foot, it's probably a salamander.

 

[paris]

it's all vernacular isn't it....

like frog and toads - all toads are frogs, but not all frogs are toads
so all newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts

it's not scientific, more of a local 'fuzzy' definition -in general i would say those designated 'newts' spend more time in the water before and after breeding - this of course doesn't apply to neotenic species, which are all referred to as 'salamanders'

 

[Jennewt]

Sounds like you need to read the FAQ
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/faq.shtml

 

[grunsven]

In the old days, before Columbus, Marco Polo and collaegues, it worked great, (Northern) Europe had newts (mainly the old Triturus) and salamanders (Salamandra). Clearly very differend animals. That its a mess in Asia and Northern America and that the seperation does not work there is a more recent problem and people just tried to stuff everything in either one group or the other.