Description: This salamander has only four toes on its hind feet instead of the usual five. The tail has a marked constriction at its base. Colouration varies from orange-brown to reddish-brown above with small patches of fine black spots on the back of the trunk. These spots extend down the sides of the head, tail and limbs. The belly is white, sprinkled with small black dots. There are 14 or 15 costal grooves.

Description: Females lay eggs in terrestrial sites close to water. They attend to the eggs during the six to eight weeks it takes for them to become larvae. If nesting habitat is scarce, females sometimes develop communal nests which are brooded by one female. Once the eggs hatch into larvae, the larvae make their way into the water where they complete their development into terrestrial juveniles and adults.

Adult habitat: This salamander is found in boggy woodland ponds and is associated with sphagnum areas. Adults are usually found in adjacent forests in deep leaf litter, old decaying logs and under bark or stones. They hibernate, often in groups, in rotting roots or in the soil under a thick layer of leaf litter.