Central Newt (Eastern Newt)

Description:

Newts are really cool. I'm going to go ahead and tell you to read the amphibiaweb reference I'm linking here, and also to read the Reptiles and Amphibians of Missouri to get more info on them. This one is obviously a just-metamorphosed young newt (a terrestrial eft). Egg, larval, and adult stages are aquatic. But efts will wander away from ponds into the forest to find new ponds. Central newts are orange/red with black spots and their skin is dry (or at least not slimy).

Habitat:

Missouri Ozarks, forest, leaf litter and ponds. Efts live in the forest and stay moist in the damp leaf litter. As prev mentioned, all other life stages are aquatic and are found in fish-less forest ponds.

Notes:

Read the references, newts are really cool. Look up the part about neotenic newts, it's herptastic.