Salamanders are amphibians that superficially resemble lizards. They typically lay eggs in water and have aquatic larvae. Some are fully aquatic throughout their lives, some take to the water intermittently, and others spend all their adult lives on dry land.
Just as all toads are frogs, also all newts are salamanders. However, whereas toads tend to live on dryer land than other frogs do, newts tend to be more restricted to the immediate vicinity of water than other salamanders do.
Per the California Department of Fish and Game range maps, two species of salamanders live in Davis: the California Tiger Salamander and the California Slender Salamander. Four other salamander species live in other parts of Yolo County. All the salamander species in Yolo County are native to the county.
Salamander Species in Yolo County
| Common Name | Taxonomic Classification | Range in Yolo County |
| California Tiger Salamander | Ambystoma californiense | Sacramento Valley |
| Batrachoseps attenuatus | along the Highway 16 corridor and areas southwest of Zamora and Knights Landing, including Woodland and Davis but excluding the farther east portions of Yolo County | |
| Speckled Black Salamander | Aneides flavipunctatus | foothills |
| Arboreal Salamander | Aneides lugubris | foothills |
| Ensatina | Ensatina eschscholtzii | foothills and the Dunnigan Hills |
| California Newt | Taricha torosa | foothills and the Dunnigan Hills |
