I was recently walking through a dense hemlock forest in upstate New York where I came across some chewed-up mushrooms and several little orange critters crawling around them. I instantly thought a) salamanders? and b) they must be eating the mushrooms. Turns out I was right on the first point and only half-right on the second.
I had met what are generally referred to as “Red Efts”. They are the juvenile (eft) form of the Eastern or Orange Spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridscens, a type of salamander). It turns out they weren’t eating the mushrooms, they were eating the smaller animals that were eating the mushrooms.
These newts have a very interesting life cycle…
- They hatch with gills and start out living in water.
- Then they morph into these air-breathing orange juveniles that roam around on land for several years. Sometimes traveling far away from where they hatched.
- Finally they morph again into dull green adults who go back to live mostly in the water.
Their Latin name refers to their markings and color: Noto = mark, ophthalmus = eyes, viridscens = greenish (referring to the adult).