Identification
Red-spotted
Newts have a fairly complicated lifecycle. They begin their life as an aquatic
juvenile and then grow into a 3.5-8.6 cm (1 3/8 – 3 3/8 in) terrestrial
juvenile called a red eft. Efts are brilliantly colored, generally orange-red,
to dull red or orange. After several years, the eft stage migrates back to breeding
sites and transforms into aquatic adults. Interestingly, the aquatic adults
lack gills, and instead have lungs. The adults are duller than the efts, and
are usually olive-green, brown, or dark greenish-brown, with yellow bellies.
Their dorsal surface is patterned with 3-7 red spots bordered in black, and
they generally grow to lengths of 5.7-12.2 cm (2 ¼ - 4 13/16 in). Adult
males have a high tail fin and dark spots on the back legs during the breeding
season.
Distribution and Status
Red-spotted Newts range from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and southern Quebec west through central Michigan, and south to central Alabama and Georgia. Within the Midwest, the Red-spotted Newt is found in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.
Ecology
Adult Red-spotted Newts can be found in calm, clean bodies of permanent or semi-permanent water including ponds, small lakes, marshes, ditches, or quiet streams. They can be seen swimming slowly in open water, or traversing across the floor through vegetation, sometimes as deep as 40 feet! When semi-permanent water becomes too shallow, aquatic adults will migrate onto land. Terrestrial red efts prefer moist wooded upland areas, and can be seen roaming in the open in these habitats. Their diet consists mostly of invertebrates which are especially abundant in leaf litter after rain showers.
Threats and Management Issues
Red-spotted Newts remain relatively common throughout their range. Unlike most salamander species, the Red-spotted Newt is able to survive well in ponds that contain fish. A variety of habitat is required for all of the life history stages of this species. Forestry operations in wooded upland areas could destroy habitat necessary for the red eft, as well as for adults which must migrate onto land. Drainage and conversion of wetlands would prove disastrous for all stages of a Red-spotted Newt population as the species maintains a highly specific home range area, which the very rarely stray from.
Resources
General reference guides and websites.
Bruce Kingsbury, Director
Center for Reptile and Amphibian Conservation and Management
Science Building
Indiana-Purdue University
2101 East Coliseum Blvd.
Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499