CreatureData

Spotted salamander

Ambystoma maculatum (Shaw, 1802)

LCLeast Concernsalamanders

The spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) is a species in the family Ambystomatidae, order Caudata. Recorded adults weigh about 24 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum)
Photo: Andrew Murray · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the spotted salamander

Weight
24 gsrc for Weight
Length
up to 24.8 cmsrc for Length
Lifespan
Not recorded
Longest recorded lifespan
32 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
144 – 370src for Young per litter or clutch
Reproduction
Eggssrc for Reproduction
Active
By day (diurnal)src for Active
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the spotted salamander live?

Not recorded

What is the spotted salamander?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), also known commonly as the yellow-spotted salamander, is a species of mole salamander in the family Ambystomatidae. The species is native to the eastern United States and Canada. It is the state amphibian of Ohio and South Carolina. The species ranges from Nova Scotia, to Lake Superior, to southern Georgia and Texas. Its embryos have been found to have symbiotic algae, Chlorococcum amblystomatis, living in and around them, the only known example of vertebrate cells hosting an endosymbiont microbe (unless mitochondria are considered).

From the Wikipedia article “Spotted salamander” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Spotted_salamander&oldid=1381408430), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the spotted salamander endangered?

The spotted salamander is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the spotted salamander classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAmphibia
  4. orderCaudata
  5. familyAmbystomatidae
  6. genusAmbystoma
  7. SpeciesAmbystoma maculatum (Shaw, 1802)

Synonyms Amblystoma maculatum, Ambystoma carolina, Ambystoma carolinae, Ambystoma punctatum, Ambystoma subviolaceum, Ambystome argus, Camarataxis maculata, Lacerta maculata, Lacerta punctata, Lacerta subviolacea, Salamandra argus, Salamandra maculata, Salamandra margaritifera, Salamandra punctata, Salamandra subviolacea, Salamandra venenosa, Salamandroidis subviolacea, Siredon maculatus

Other names and names in other languages (21)
  • Yellow-spotted salamanderEnglish
  • سمندل أصفر النقطArabic
  • Sourd brizhellekBreton
  • FleckenquerzahnmolchGerman
  • Flecken-QuerzahnmolchGerman
  • Salamandra moteadaSpanish
  • TäpläsalamanteriFinnish
  • Ambystome maculéFrench
  • Ambystome tachetéFrench
  • salamandre maculéeFrench
  • Salamandra maculataItalian
  • キボシサンショウウオJapanese
  • FlekksalamanderNorwegian Bokmål
  • Gevlekte salamanderDutch
  • E Gidugizid DawgomegOjibwa
  • Ambystoma plamistaPolish
  • Salamandra-pintadaPortuguese
  • Жёлтопятнистая амбистомаRussian
  • Gulfläckig mullvadssalamanderSwedish
  • Плямиста саламандраUkrainian
  • 斑點鈍口螈Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the spotted salamander

Other species in the same genus Ambystoma.

CR, Critically Endangered
Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)

Axolotl

Ambystoma mexicanum

Ambystomatidae

CompareSpotted salamander vs AxolotlSpotted salamander vs Tiger salamanderSpotted salamander vs California tiger salamanderSpotted salamander vs Anderson's salamander

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the spotted salamander?

An adult spotted salamander weighs 24 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the spotted salamander endangered?

The spotted salamander is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the spotted salamander?

The spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) belongs to the family Ambystomatidae in the order Caudata.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/spotted-salamander

MLA

“Spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/spotted-salamander.

BibTeX
@misc{spotted_salamander_2026,
  title = {Spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/spotted-salamander},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}