This is a highly aquatic species of Mediterranean-type habitats including scrub, open woodland and cultivated land. It is generally found in ponds, dayas, wadi, lakes, ditches and slow-moving streams (often temporary in nature) with plenty of vegetation cover. The adults are mostly found under stones or in mud in their aquatic habitats or sheltering under cover on land if the wetland dries up. It may be present in slightly modified aquatic and terrestrial habitats. The female deposits around 800–1,500 eggs on plants and stones in ponds.

Within the European region, this species is distributed in central and southern Iberia and in part of an external Spanish territory in North Africa (Ceuta). It has been introduced to Gibraltar, but this population appears "not to have prospered" (D. Doonaire-Barroso pers. comm. 2020). In southern Portugal and Andalusia (Spain), it is the most widespread salamander (D. Donaire pers. comm. 2020). It is essentially a lowland species becoming rare above 900 m asl, although it might be found at 1,565 m asl in the Sierra de Loja, Granada, Spain. This species has a low dispersal capacity, resulting in strong genetic structure at small spatial scales (I. Martinez-Solano pers. comm. November 2019).

Out of the European region, this species occurs in the coastal plain of northern Morocco.

It occurs in a number of protected areas in Iberia, but there is a need to monitor vulnerable populations in northern and eastern Spain and Portugal. It is listed on Appendix III of the Bern Convention and is protected by national legislation in Spain, where captive breeding of the species and habitat restoration projects are in place in some regions.