text: what is the difference between a newt and a salamander?   newts are one type of salamander.  they are tailed amphibians that live in or near water.  they are members of the family salamandridae (the 'true' salamanders and newts), but there are three suborders and ten other families of salamanders as well.  newts are characterized by the lack of costal grooves down the sides of their bodies, which the other 'true' salamanders in their family have.  some salamanders in several of the families (especially ambystomatidae - the mole salamanders) sometimes exhibit a developmental adaptation known as paedomorphosis, in which they retain certain juvenile characters into adulthood (a process also known as neoteny).  in the case of most salamanders, these juvenile characters are the gills that larval salamanders possess that allow them to breathe water.  in the presence of a stable, deep water body, some of the salamanders will keep their gills, and continue living underwater instead of moving to a potentially dangerous terrestrial existence.  these neotenous salamanders are known as axolotls.