Lizard vs Salamander: Key Differences and How to Tell Them Apart

Key differences at a glance

Lizards and salamanders share the same basic body plan: a long body, four legs and a tail. That is why salamanders are so often mistaken for lizards, and why in parts of the southern United States they are still called “spring lizards.” But the two belong to different classes of animals that split from a common ancestor more than 300 million years ago.

Lizards are reptiles, in the same order as snakes, with more than 7,000 species from tiny geckos to the Komodo dragon. Salamanders are amphibians, related to frogs, toads and caecilians, with about 800 species. Newts are simply salamanders of one family, as explained in newt vs salamander. For the bigger picture of the two classes, see reptiles vs amphibians.

Skin: scales versus moist, smooth skin

A lizard’s skin is covered with scales made of keratin, the same material as fingernails. Scales keep water in, so lizards can live in hot deserts. As a lizard grows, it sheds its outer skin, usually in patches rather than in one piece like a snake.

Salamander skin has no scales. It is thin, smooth or warty, and kept moist by mucus glands. Water and oxygen pass through it easily, so salamanders breathe partly through their skin. The largest family, the lungless salamanders, has no lungs at all and breathes entirely through the skin and the lining of the mouth. The drawback is that salamanders dry out quickly and must stay in damp, cool places.

Many salamanders also have poison glands in their skin. The bright yellow and black fire salamander of Europe is a well-known example, and its colors warn predators to leave it alone.

Feet, claws and other body clues

Look at the feet. Most lizards have five toes on each foot, each tipped with a sharp claw for climbing and digging. Salamanders have soft, rounded toes without claws, and they never have more than four toes on the front feet, usually with five on the hind feet.

Lizards also have visible ear openings on the sides of the head in most species, and many have movable eyelids. Salamanders have no external ear openings. Lizards move quickly, with a darting, side-to-side run, while most salamanders walk slowly and deliberately.

Both groups can lose their tails to escape predators, but they handle regrowth differently. Salamanders can regrow tails and even whole legs, complete with new bone. A lizard’s regrown tail contains only a rod of cartilage, and lizards cannot regrow lost limbs.

Eggs, larvae and life cycle

Lizards lay eggs with leathery or hard shells that hold water inside, so they can be buried in soil or sand on dry land. Some lizards give birth to live young, such as the viviparous lizard of Europe and northern Asia, which lives as far north as the Arctic Circle. Baby lizards hatch as miniature adults.

Salamanders lay eggs with no shell, protected only by jelly, so the eggs must be laid in water or in very damp places. Many species hatch as aquatic larvae with feathery external gills and later lose the gills as they change into adults, a process called metamorphosis. Some, such as the lungless salamanders, hatch directly as tiny adults on land. A few never grow up at all and stay in their larval form for life, like the axolotl; see why don’t axolotls turn into salamanders?.

Habitat and when to look for them

Lizards love warmth. They are most active on sunny days, often basking on rocks, walls and logs to raise their body temperature before hunting insects. They are most diverse in warm and dry regions, from deserts to tropical forests.

Salamanders avoid heat and sunshine. They hide under logs, stones and leaf litter during the day and come out on damp nights, especially after rain. In early spring, many species migrate to ponds to breed, sometimes crossing roads in large numbers on wet evenings. Salamanders are most diverse in eastern North America, especially in the Appalachian Mountains, and in temperate forests of Europe and Asia.

Both lizards and salamanders are ectotherms, often called cold-blooded, which means their body temperature depends on their surroundings. They deal with it in opposite ways. Lizards seek out heat and can run their bodies close to 40 °C (104 °F) on a sunny day, while salamanders stay cool and are often active at temperatures that would leave a lizard sluggish.

Common species in North America and Europe

In eastern North America, common lizards include the eastern fence lizard, the green anole of the Southeast and the five-lined skink, whose young have bright blue tails. Common salamanders include the eastern red-backed salamander, one of the most abundant vertebrates in some forests, and the spotted salamander, a black salamander with yellow spots. The hellbender, up to about 74 cm (29 in) long, is the largest salamander in North America.

In Europe, the sand lizard, the common wall lizard and the viviparous lizard are widespread. The slow worm is a legless lizard, not a snake. European salamanders include the fire salamander, the alpine salamander, and newts such as the smooth newt and the protected great crested newt.

Which is bigger, and are they dangerous?

The largest lizard, the Komodo dragon of Indonesia, grows to about 3 m (10 ft). The largest salamanders are the giant salamanders of China, which have been recorded at more than 1.5 m (5 ft) and are critically endangered in the wild. Most lizards and salamanders that people meet in Europe and North America are only 10–25 cm (4–10 in) long.

Neither group poses much risk to people. A few lizards, such as the Gila monster of the US Southwest, are venomous, and some salamanders and newts have toxic skin. The safest approach is to watch them without handling them. Salamanders are also very sensitive to soaps, lotions and chemicals on human hands, and many species are declining because of habitat loss and disease.