Wild Facts About The Eastern Newt
The Eastern Newt is one seriously weird little animal. With a life cycle that starts and ends in water but that includes a wandering stage on land in between, the Eastern Newt is a joy to spot in the wild.
The fact that they are both cute and toxic just adds to the fun.
How To Identify An Eastern Newt
- Eastern Newts grow between 2.5 – 5.5 inches long (6.4 – 14 cm).
- Skin looks rough rather than slimy.
- Juveniles and adults look very different from one another.
- Juveniles (called “efts”):
- Vary in color from red-brown to bright, neon orange (Martof et al. 1980)
- Have dark eyes rimmed in bright yellow above and below.
- Have long, slim, tails that are round in cross-section and resemble the tails of lizards.
- Adults are yellow-brown to olive green above and yellow with black spots below and have:
- Small, black spots along their backs and tails.
- Larger, bright red dots rimmed with black in a single row on each side of the bodies.
- Very long, laterally flattened, paddle-shaped tails lined on top and bottom with flexible membranes that help them swim.
- Dark eyes rimmed in yellow-brown or olive green.
- Juveniles (called “efts”):
How To Find An Eastern Newt
- Eastern Newts transform several times over the course of their lives—from egg, to aquatic larvae, to terrestrial efts, to aquatic adults.
- Efts are terrestrial and live in moist forested environments.
- When efts develop into adult newts, they leave their forest habitats and transition to an aquatic lifestyle.
- Adults live in ponds, lakes, and pools in and near rivers and streams.
What Eastern Newts Eat
- Both adults and larval newts are predators.
- They eat a variety of animals including:
- Insects like beetles, flies and their larvae (including mosquitoes), caddisflies, and stoneflies.
- Spiders
- Butterflies and moths
- Frog and toad eggs and their tadpoles
- Fish and other salamanders’ eggs
- Smaller newts
- Snails, springtails, water mites, worms, and zooplankton (Strain, Turk, and Anderson 2014, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-014-9362-6)
- Efts feed on worms and insects and their larvae, especially springtails (Behler and King 2020).
What Eats Eastern Newts
- What eats them? Well, the short answer is “fewer animals than you might think”.
- Eastern Newts manufacture toxins that exude onto their skin when their skin is damaged, such as during an attack by a predator.
- Efts have the greatest concentration of toxins (Tipton et al. 2012).
- This chemical defense is effective against many potential predators but not infallible.
- Despite their toxic secretions, Eastern Newts are still preyed upon by:
- Northern Water Snakes (Nerodia sipedon)
- American Bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus)
- Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) (Wrynn and Gall 2019, https://doi.org/10.1656/045.026.0414)
- Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta) (Tipton et al. 2012)
- Common Green Darner dragonfly larvae (Wrynn and Gall 2019, https://doi.org/10.1656/045.026.0414)
- Fish
- Predaceous diving beetles
- But one of the most impactful predator also happens to be one of the nastiest: a blood leech formerly known as Batrachobdella picta and currently known as Placobdella ornata.
- These leeches live in the same freshwater ponds as the newts.
- Not only do these blood-sucking, segmented, parasitic worms feed directly on the newts’ tissues, they also transmit a parasite into the newts’ blood that weakens and kills them slowly (Tyning 1990).
Eastern Newt Behavior And Life Cycle
- Eastern Newts mate in spring and fall.
- In preparation for mating, hormonal changes cause male Eastern Newts to develop:
- Enlarged hind legs
- Large, black, rough patches on the insides of their thighs and tips of their toes (Behler and King 2020).
- In preparation for mating, hormonal changes cause male Eastern Newts to develop:
- Females deposit their eggs one at a time on leaves of submerged plants in late winter, spring, and into early summer.
- They may fold the leaves over each egg to hide the eggs from view and protect them from predators (Martof et al. 1980).
- The larvae hatch underwater after approximately 35 days, although the time frame varies (Martof et al. 1980).
- In summer and fall, the aquatic larvae transform into efts, and leave the water for their moist terrestrial habitats.
Scientific Classification
|
Kingdom |
Animalia (animals) |
|
Phylum |
Chordata (chordates) |
|
Class |
Amphibia (amphibians) |
|
Order |
Urodela (salamanders) |
|
Family |
Salamandridae (true salamanders and newts) |
|
Genus |
Notophthalmus |
|
Species |
N. viridescens |
Scientific Name |
Notophthalmus viridescens |
