This species inhabits shallow, warm, sometimes turbid waters with abundant vegetation. These areas include swamps, sloughs, ponds, lakes, ditches, and to a lesser degree rivers and streams. Individuals often hide among plants and debris by day and burrow into bottom mud if the water dries up. The eggs are laid in water in a small pocket or debris-covered cavity in bottom mud. This species can survive in modified habitats.

This species occurs in the coastal plain of the United States of America, from southeastern North Carolina into Florida and westwards into Texas and along the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas and Mexico. Its range extends northward in the Mississippi Valley to southwestern Michigan. In Mexico, this species was previously known only from the border region of Tamaulipas-Texas, stretching from the shared areas of Laredo to Brownsville, but is now known from three additional subpopulations, extending its range into the state of Veracruz. These new localities include 9.5 m north from El Tejon, Tamaulipas (Mechan and Mitchell 1983), Tuxpan, Veracruz (Moreales-Mávil et al. 2017), and Gutierrez Zamora, Veracruz (Ramírez-Bautista et al. 1982). Additionally, a new record from within the historical distribution at the border region has been made for Laguna la Escondida State Park, Tamaulipas (Terán-Juárez et al. 2015). It is possible that this species extends more widely than is currently known in Tamaulipas. Taxonomic work is needed for the Veracruz subpopulations, as these possibly represent an undescribed species (S. Terán Juárez and A. Calzada pers. comm. October 2019). This species occurs at an elevation range between 0 and 30 m asl in Mexico (S. Terán Juárez and A. Calzada pers. comm. October 2019).

Conservation Actions In-Place
This species occurs in several protected areas in the United States. In Mexico, it occurs only in the Laguna la Escondida State Park (Terán-Juárez et al. 2015) and the Manglares y humedales de Tuxpan Ramsar site (Moreales-Mávil et al. 2017). This species is protected by Mexican law under the "Threatened (Amenazada)" category (A).

Conservation Needed
Proactive, precautionary steps should be taken to detect the arrival of Bsal in Mexico through the swabbing of both wild and imported salamanders, in addition to a total ban on the importation of non-native salamanders (Mexico Red List Assessment Workshop October 2019).

Research Needed
More information is needed on this species' distribution, population status, ecology, and threats. Taxonomic work is needed, specifically to confirm the identity of the subpopulations in Veracruz, Mexico (S. Terán Juárez and A. Calzada pers. comm. October 2019).