As a defense mechanism, striped newts secrete a toxin that, when ingested, can result in a number of medical problems including paralysis and death.
Negative Impacts: injures humans (poisonous )
For a brief period in the 1970s and 1980s, striped newts were sold as pets in Florida. Since that time, there have been no records of this species being kept and sold as a pet.
Striped newts serve as prey items to mole salamanders (Ambystoma talpoideum), birds, and snakes. They act as predators of small invertebrates, insects, snails, and worms in both terrestrial and temporary aquatic habitats. Studies examining parasites of this species have yet to be performed.
Striped newts are opportunistic feeders. As larvae, they feed on small aquatic invertebrates. As efts, they eat small terrestrial invertebrates. As adults, their diet is influenced by the season. During breeding periods, they usually forage at the bottom of the breeding pond, eating invertebrates such as fairy shrimp, amphibian eggs, and tadpoles. On land, they have been known to eat spiders, small insects, worms, and snails. Observations of their feeding habits have shown that most of their prey range from 6-10 mm in size. Unlike other newt species, striped newts do not normally eat their shed skin.
Animal Foods: amphibians; eggs; insects; terrestrial non-insect arthropods; mollusks; terrestrial worms
Primary Diet: carnivore (Eats eggs, Insectivore , Eats non-insect arthropods, Vermivore)
Striped newts are endemic to southeastern Georgia and north-central Florida, where their range extends as far west as Tallahassee and as far south as Orlando.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native )
Striped newt habitats include pine flatwoods, sandhills, and xeric hammocks. They are well-adapted for burrowing and live underground. This species can often be found under fallen trees and old stumps as well. During their breeding season, these newts rely on temporary water sources such as sinkhole or bay ponds. Quite often, their terrestrial habitat is not in close proximity to the pond in which they choose to breed.
Average elevation: 153 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; terrestrial ; freshwater
Terrestrial Biomes: forest
Aquatic Biomes: temporary pools
Striped newts usually live from 12 to 15 years in the wild and in captivity. Their average life span is reported as 12.9 years.
Typical lifespan
Status: wild: 12 to 15 years.
Average lifespan
Status: wild: 12.9 years.
Adult striped newts range from 5.1 to 10.5 cm in total length and weigh an average of 0.8 g. This species usually has an olive green or brown coloration with a yellow belly and two red stripes that run down its back. Some individuals also have red spots adjacent to their stripes, or black spots covering their belly. These newts possess no costal grooves and no distinct cranial ridges. When inhabiting aquatic environments they develop smooth skin and a tail fin. Once they return to terrestrial habitats, the tail fin is lost and their skin becomes coarse. They have slim legs, with the hind legs being larger in males than in females. Males also have excrescences on their legs and feet, and an orange glandular cluster in the vent area. This glandular structure is absent in females. In other respects, males and females are physically similar. Striped newts have four toes on their front feet and five toes on their hind feet.
Striped newt hatchlings are approximately 8 mm in length from snout to tail. They have two dark stripes that span the length of their body, but these stripes fade away a week after they hatch. Hatchlings do not have legs. The larvae develop two new dark stripes soon after the others fade away. Their bodies are usually green to dark gray in color, with a pale yellow belly. Hatchlings also have bushy external gills and black spots on their tail. Their skin is very smooth. Striped newts also exhibit an eft stage, at which point they leave their natal pond as a sexually immature adult. This stage occurs as early as 3 months of age, and is characterized by an orange to red body coloration with red stripes. Efts have rough skin and are 40 to 50 mm long.
Striped newts are sometimes mistaken for eastern newts (Notophthalmus viridescens). Both species are roughly the same color, have rough skin in their adult stage, and lack costal grooves. However, instead of stripes, eastern newts have red spots on their backs and are also larger than striped newts.
Average mass: 0.8 g.
Range length: 5.1 to 10.5 cm.
Other Physical Features: ectothermic ; heterothermic ; bilateral symmetry ; poisonous
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Little is known regarding specific predators of striped newts. Larvae are preyed upon by a variety of aquatic creatures, including dragonfly larvae or fish, when they are present in breeding pools. Predators of adult striped newts include mole salamanders (Ambystoma talpoideum), snakes, and birds.
Striped newts exhibit several different antipredatory behaviors. Their dorsal coloration is cryptic in the environments that they inhabit. When they feel threatened, they become immobile and assume the “unken” position by raising their tail and head. While the upper half of their body is drab, their underside is a brighter color. This posture allows them to show off this aposematic coloration. While in this position, the striped newts also produce noxious skin secretions. While the exact toxin in these excretions is not currently known, it is thought to be tarichatoxin, a neurotoxin that is secreted by other species in the genus Notophthalmus. This toxin has been found in all stages of life, from larvae to adult. Toxins may also be used as protection against external parasites.
Known Predators:
Anti-predator Adaptations: aposematic ; cryptic
Striped newt development occurs in two different ways. In most cases, aquatic larvae develop into terrestrial efts, which are immature larvae that have recently metamorphosed. Larvae usually metamorphose by the time they are three months old, at which time they leave their aquatic habitats. While in their terrestrial habitat, they fully develop into a sexually mature adult and lose the remnants of their gills. The second type of development occurs when breeding ponds do not dry out as they normally do. Instead of becoming efts, larvae become paedomorphs, which are sexually mature larvae, inhabiting the pond until the next breeding period. After breeding for the first time, paedomorphs lose their gills and transition to terrestrial habitats as adult newts.
Development - Life Cycle: neotenic/paedomorphic; metamorphosis
Striped newts are listed as "near threatened" by the IUCN Redlist due to habitat loss. Their terrestrial habitats are being destroyed for agricultural and residential purposes, while their aquatic habitats are being depleted and used as a water source for humans. Many are also killed while migrating across highways.
Although there are no protective regulations currently in place for this species, striped newts are considered to be "Imperiled in Florida" by the Florida Natural Areas Inventory and "Rare" by the Florida Committee on Rare and Endangered Plants and Animals. They are also considered to be rare in Georgia, the other state in which they are found.
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: no special status
State of Michigan List: no special status
Little is known about how striped newts communicate with conspecifics. It is known that they heavily rely on their sense of smell and sight to perceive their environment, especially when tracking prey. Larval newts also have a lateral line similar to that of fishes, with which they can detects vibrations in the water. While there have not been many studies of this species, research on eastern newts (Notophthalmus viridescens) may give insight into how striped newts feed. Eastern newts first detect potential prey with their keen eyesight. To determine if the object is edible, they first touch it with their snout and smell it. After determining that what they have found is acceptable, they will snap at the prey and consume it. Other studies on the eastern newt showed that during the mating season, males showed a preference for female odors, indicating that olfaction also plays an important role in mating and communication between sexes.
Communication Channels: chemical
Other Communication Modes: pheromones
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Nothing is known about the mating systems of striped newts. In a related species (Notophthalmus viridescens), males either capture a female around the neck with their hindlimbs or perform displays until a female becomes receptive to mating. Males usually do not mate with more than two females in one breeding season.
Mating System: polygynous
Striped newts become sexually mature at 8 to 24 months of age. Breeding begins in late autumn and can last until early spring. This species breeds in temporary ponds that are free from predators such as fish. Preferred ponds have a tree canopy that provides shade yet allows some sunny areas, and are less than 1.5 m deep. Not much is known about the actual breeding behavior of the species, except that they have a protracted courtship. Eggs are layed one at a time and it can take several months for a female to finish laying all of her eggs. The eggs are adhesive, and are attached to aquatic plants as they are layed. The total number of eggs that may be laid by an individual is not currently known. Except in the case of severe drought, striped newts return to the same pond each year to breed. Because of the unpredictability of their breeding habitats, they may sometimes alter the time that they migrate to breed.
Breeding interval: Striped newts breed once yearly, between late fall and early spring.
Breeding season: Mating and fertilization occur between late fall and early spring. Egg laying may take several months due to the fact that eggs are laid one at a time.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 8 to 24 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 8 to 24 months.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; fertilization (Internal ); oviparous
Female striped newts hide each egg by wrapping it in the leaf of an aquatic plant. No further parental investment is provided.
Parental Investment: female parental care ; pre-hatching/birth (Protecting: Female)
The striped newt (Notophthalmus perstriatus) is a species of aquatic salamander native to the southeastern United States. It is a close relative of the eastern newt, with which it shares territory, and can be distinguished from the latter by the presence of red stripes running down the sides of its back and red spots on its back that lack a black outline.[2]
Growing from 2.12–4.12 in (5.4–10.5 cm)[3] in length, a fully mature striped newt is yellow-green to olive green to black-brown in color with bright red or orange parallel dorsal stripes. The underside is yellow with black spots. The aquatic larvae are tan, greenish, or brown with bushy external gills and have a distinct light lateral line and dark mottling on the large tail fin. The striped newt can also occur as an eft, which is a terrestrial juvenile stage that spends several years completely on land. Efts can be identified by their light brown or orange coloration and namesake red striping. Neoteny, or paedomorphosis, can be common in populations that live in permanent or semi-permanent fishless ponds. Neotenic adults are yellow-green to brown and often lack the red stripes seen in terrestrial forms.
This newt is found from southern Georgia southward into central Florida.[3] It typically inhabits fire-maintained habitats with sandy soils such as longleaf pine sandhills, scrub, scrubby flatwoods, and occasionally hammock ponds, where it breeds from late winter through spring.
While currently listed on the IUCN Red List as near threatened, there has been a push to relist the species as federally threatened due to population decline.
Due to human interference with fire regimes, forested pond basins are developing a thicker understory, and hardwood trees are taking over the grasslands.[4] This, combined with the natural patchy structure of the upland areas they inhabit, is leading to a decline in viable striped newt habitat.[5] The drastic change of newt habitat ecology may lower the population viability and potentially cause an extinction vortex.
At the community-ecosystem scale, temporary ponds are essential for the breeding success of the newts. Human efforts to ditch, drain, or otherwise fill up the vernal pools reduce the chance of successful egg laying.[5] Additionally, off-road vehicles have had an increasingly detrimental effect on the vegetation surrounding these temporary ponds. When the vegetation is destroyed, the newts do not have anything to lay their eggs on and reproduction is impeded.[4] Intense droughts have also played a role in the diminishing of temporary ponds. Long term dry-spells may make pools disappear for years on end, which make breeding impossible during that time.[4]
The main factor that affects striped newts at the population-species scale is highway mortality. During their terrestrial migration, newts may wander onto roadways and be struck by passing vehicles.[6] At the genetic scale, there is evidence which suggests a lack of gene flow and loss of biodiversity between breeding populations, with severe habitat fragmentation being to blame. Their subpopulations are isolated, resulting in a potential loss of gene flow and immigration/emigration and an increase in local stochasticity.[4]
The striped newt (Notophthalmus perstriatus) is a species of aquatic salamander native to the southeastern United States. It is a close relative of the eastern newt, with which it shares territory, and can be distinguished from the latter by the presence of red stripes running down the sides of its back and red spots on its back that lack a black outline.
