7 Interesting Facts About Eastern Newts

Eastern newts are small amphibians native to the eastern regions of North America, where they can be found in woodlands, marshes, and ponds. They have three life stages, where they adapt to switching between living in the water and living on land. In this article, we’ll explore seven facts about eastern newts, shedding light on their life cycle, behaviors, and the adaptations that make them a unique presence in their ecosystem.

7 Facts about eastern newts

1. Newts are carnivorous and eat invertebrates

The Eastern newt is a small, speckled salamander native to North America, known for its unique life stages both on land and in water. Over the course of their life they shift from water habitat to land and back again! We’ll talk more about that in our next fact.

Their diet shifts accordingly, allowing them to thrive in both environments. While living in the water, their diet expands to include aquatic organisms and becomes more opportunistic. This includes aquatic insects such as mosquito larvae, water beetles, and mayfly nymphs, small crustaceans like tiny shrimp and water fleas, small snails, and tadpoles.

During the juvenile “red eft” stage, eastern newts live on land for several years. As efts, they’re primarily insectivores, feeding on small invertebrates found in leaf litter and moist woodland floors. Spiders, worms, and insects such as ants, beetles, and small flies make up most of their diet.

2. The eastern newt has three distinct life stages

Larvae

Eastern newt larvae live entirely in water after hatching from their eggs. Their bodies are adapted for aquatic life, featuring feathery external gills that allow them to breathe underwater and a tail designed for swimming. However, don’t mistake them for tadpoles, as tadpoles specifically refer to young frogs and toads. As larvae, they generally grow up to 1–1.5 inches in length and live in this stage for about 2 to 5 months before metamorphosing into the next life stage.

Eft (Juvenile)

When they’re ready to begin their terrestrial phase (living on land), larvae transform into juvenile eastern newts known as red efts. During this stage, they develop rough, more waterproof skin and lungs, enabling them to live on land and breath the air. The skin of red efts turns a bright orange-red color, which serves as a warning signal to predators about their toxicity. Efts typically spend 2 to 7 years on land, where they are commonly found under logs, rocks, and in moist leaf litter.

Adults

Once efts are ready to return to an aquatic lifestyle, they transform into adult eastern newts. Adult newts have flattened tails adapted for swimming but lose the external gills, breathing instead through lungs and skin. Adults reach about 3 to 5 inches in length and display an olive-green to brown color with darker specks. They primarily reside in ponds, lakes, and slow-moving streams, where they will live, feed, and breed for the remainder of their lives.

3. Their skin produces a toxin, which helps protect it from predators

Toxicity is a defense mechanism used by eastern newts to deter predators. Both efts and adults produce tetrodotoxin, a potent neurotoxin that can be harmful if consumed by other animals. However, the toxicity is particularly concentrated in the red eft stage, making efts more toxic and better defended than adults. The newts bright color during this life stage helps to advertise that fact to potential predators.

Due to their toxicity, eastern newts are rarely eaten by predators, which helps them survive and thrive in their natural environments. However they aren’t 100% protected from all danger, some predators, like certain snakes, are resistant to the toxin and able to consume them.

4. Males actively court females with tail movements and wiggles

Eastern newt mating season begins in early spring as water temperatures warm up. Mating only takes place during the adult phase of their life, when they are back to mainly living in the water. When a male is ready to look for a mate, he will perform performing tail-waving motions to release pheromones, attracting females nearby. When a male finds a receptive female, he approaches her slowly and fans his tail to guide her toward him.

The female will remain still, allowing the male to move close. The male then drops a spermatophore (sperm packet) on the bottom of the pond, which the female can pick up to fertilize her eggs. Rival males may also deposit their own spermatophores nearby, hoping she will choose theirs for fertilization instead.

5. Female newts lay 200-400 eggs

During each breeding season, female eastern newts lay 200–400 eggs over several weeks, typically laying some eggs each day. Their eggs are encased in a protective jelly and are usually attached to water-soaked vegetation or other submerged surfaces where they won’t dry out. After laying, the females leave the eggs to develop and hatch on their own. It takes about 3 to 8 weeks for the eggs to hatch into aquatic larvae, which have feathery gills and will grow and develop in the water.

6. Their life stages may be affected by environmental conditions

When the terrestrial environment is unsuitable (too dry or lacking cover), they may transition directly from the larval stage to the aquatic adult stage, bypassing the eft phase altogether.

In other populations, newts enter the eft stage but never fully change into adults, and remain on land only going to the water to breed.

Both of these cases are rare and are likely in response to harsher than average environmental conditions, forcing the newts to adapt their normal life cycle.

7. There are four subspecies of the eastern newt

Eastern newts are classified into four subspecies: red-spotted newts, broken-striped newts, central newts, and peninsula newts.

1. Red-spotted newts

The Red-spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens) is the most widespread of the four subspecies. They are found throughout the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. They are characterized by red spots outlined in black on their backs.

2. Broken-striped newts

The Broken-striped Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens dorsalis) if found primarily in the coastal plains of North and South Carolina. They typically have red spots that can form broken or irregular stripes along their backs.

3. Central newt

Central Newts (Notophthalmus viridescens louisianensis) inhabit the central and southeastern United States. They often have fewer and smaller red spots, and a more olive-green coloration.

4. Peninsula newts

Peninsula Newts (Notophthalmus viridescens piaropicola) are found in central and southern Florida. This subspecies generally lacks red spots, and their coloration tends to be uniformly olive or brown.