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Western tiger salamander

Ambystoma mavortium · Salamanders and newts · Amphibians

Western tiger salamander (Ambystoma mavortium): Large, stout terrestrial salamander (average about 20 cm, up to about 36 cm) with broad flat head, blunt snout and small eyes. Light grey to grey-black back with scattered black or yellow spots, and yellow bars or lines along the body. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Western tiger salamander on leaf litter
Photo by Anastasia on Unsplash
Scientific name
Ambystoma mavortium
Family
Ambystomatidae
In North America
Native
Range
Southern Canada south through much of the western and central United States to central Mexico; absent from most of the Great Basin and the far western US west of the Rockies, where it has been introduced in many localities. Meets the eastern tiger salamander's range in the Great Plains.
Biology

How to identify it

Large, stout terrestrial salamander (average about 20 cm, up to about 36 cm) with broad flat head, blunt snout and small eyes. [1][2]

Light grey to grey-black back with scattered black or yellow spots, and yellow bars or lines along the body. [1][2]

Long, thick tail; four toes on front feet and five on hind feet, none webbed; no colour difference between the sexes. [1][2]

Larvae are yellow-green with brown spots and black lateral stripes and carry external gills and a tail fin; some become large cannibal morphs in drying ponds. [1][2]

Compared with the eastern tiger salamander: Ranges meet and meld in the Great Plains, so the two cannot be separated by appearance alone; locality is the practical guide. [1][2]

Species it is confused with

Check these before deciding what you are looking at. If you are not certain what it is, do not shoot.

Field notes

  • Identification Confirm a western tiger salamander before you act. Compared with the eastern tiger salamander: Ranges meet and meld in the Great Plains, so the two cannot be separated by appearance alone; locality is the practical guide.[1][2]
Field knowledge

Where it lives

Almost any terrestrial habitat (forest, woodland, open fields, meadows) provided there is soil to burrow in and a lake, pond or slow stream pool for breeding. [1][2]

Ponds used for breeding are usually fishless. [1][2]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Nocturnal and fossorial; adults hibernate in burrows about 60 cm deep near breeding ponds and return to the same pond. [1][2]

Most surface activity is during and after rain; most populations migrate up to several hundred metres between uplands and breeding water. [1][2]

Eats beetles, earthworms and crickets, and occasionally frogs or other salamanders. [1][2]

Males are aggressive during the breeding season. [1][2]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Conservation and protection

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Southern Canada south through much of the western and central United States to central Mexico; absent from most of the Great Basin and the far western US west of the Rockies, where it has been introduced in many localities. Meets the eastern tiger salamander's range in the Great Plains.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology