#Orange-bellied Newt

[orca-in-disguise]

Critter fact #24:

The Orange-bellied Newt, Taricha torosa, is endemic to California. Hence, it is also known as the California Newt.

[dailycreatures]

Creature 76

Orange belly newt

The orange belly newt, or California newt, can be seen in the western United States. They mostly hang out in areas near ponds and streams, since that’s where they breed. Like all newts, orange belly newts are amphibians. They’re actually pretty poisonous and will secrete neurotoxins if scared, but if you take caution when handling, and don’t eat them, then you should be fine.

fact sources: aquarium of pacific. org and wikipedia

image source: wikipedia

[herpsandbirds]

Trick or treat?!

HAVE SOME EYE OF NEWT... STILL ATTACHED TO THE NEWT...

California Newt aka Orange-bellied Newt (Taricha torosa), family Salamandridae, Napa county, CA, USA.

Poisonous.

photograph by Connor Long

[giulliadella]

Day 31 of posting cute creatures we found on our field trip:

Alpine newt (Ichthyosaura alpestris) is a small species of newt that lives in cold mountainous lakes and streams. It’s recognizable by the bright orange belly and lots of spots on its lips and legs. This one is a female - males have a crest on the tail. It can’t survive for long outside of water, so we took a quick pic and put it back in its lovely little puddle.

[pansylair]

it is newt time 🕺

video id: a stylized ceramic sculpture of a male crested newt with a grey body, many black spots, an orange belly and big ol’ eyes /end id

[uncharismatic-fauna]

The Smooth Newt with the Smooth Moves

Also known as the European newt, northern smooth newt, or common newt (Lissotriton vulgaris), the smooth newt is one of the most common species in Europe and western Asia. It is also the only newt species found in Ireland. There are currently three recognised subspecies distributed throughout this range, and four others have been reclassified as distinct species. The common newt is able to survive in a variety of habitats, including deciduous and coniferous forests, wetlands, meadows, parks, and gardens. Their only requirements are sufficient sunlight and water with sufficient vegetation.

Like most newts, the northern smooth newt spends the majority of its time foraging for food on land. Their diet is carnivorous, consisting of insects, worms, snails, slugs, and larvae. When available, L. vulgaris may also eat the eggs of its own species. In turn, many animals prey on the European newt, including waterbirds, snakes, frogs, and larger newts. To avoid these predators the smooth newt is active mainly at night, and will secrete a toxic mucus when threatened. While active, they are largely solitary but from October to March several individuals will hibernate together under logs or leaf litter burrows.

Almost as soon as the common newt emerges from hibernation, they begin migration to their breeding sites-- usually the ponds in which they spawned. Males undergo a dramatic transformation, growing large crests and becoming brightly colored. When a female enters the water, the male swims around her and sniffs her cloaca. He then vibrates his tail to fan his pheromones towards her. Finally, he will swim away and, if the female is interested, she will follow him. He then deposits a packet of sperm, or spermatophore, that the female picks up for fertilization. Rival males may try to lead the female towards their own spermatophores, and clutches of eggs often have multiple fathers.

Females deposit anywhere from 100 to 500 eggs, each of which is carefully wrapped in aquatic vegetation. Larvae hatch after only 20 days, and quickly begin developing. Unlike frogs and toads, newt larvae have external, feathery gills, and develop their front legs first. After about three months, the larvae absorb their gills and leave the water as newtlets or efts. However, when temperatures are particularly low and aquatic prey is abundant, some adults retain their gills and stay aquatic in a phenomenon known as paedomorphism. These adults are fully capable of sexual reproduction, and when moved to areas with a larger population will often metamorphose into terrestrial adults.

Adult smooth newts are rather small, reaching only 9–11 cm (3.5–4.3 in) and 0.3–5.2 g (0.011–0.183 oz). Males are slightly larger than females. The head and back are dark brown or olive, while the underside is much lighter. Both males and females have dark spots on their bellies, and males also sport a bright orange stripe. In the spring, the colors in males become more vivid and the spots grow larger. Males also develop a large yellow crest that runs from the head to the table, and is dotted with dark bands.

Conservation status: The IUCN has designated the European newt as Least Concern, as it is common over most of its range. Threats include habitat destruction and the introduction of invasive fish species.

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Photos

Philip Precey

Derek Middleton

Christoph Moning via iNaturalist

Kristýna Coufalová via iNaturalist

[kapreart]

Inktober Day 30 - Violin - Laos Warty Newt

Thanks to caudata.org for being an amazing hyperfixation resource where I was actually able to find native locations, ranges, and pictures of most salamanders instead of just AI generated garbage. If only I'd found you at the beginning of this project I would have been able to celebrate more global newts like this adorable little friend.

Image ID: The newt is smooth and black along its back with a flat paddle tail, but has a wrinkly newt skin texture along with orange patterning along its belly. This newt is carrying a Violin Beetle in front of them similarly to the way a toddler holds a large adult cat.

[ursa-arctos-arctos]

Someone was not happy about getting their picture taken!

This was only one of at least 15 newts that I saw while on a while on a walk through the botanical gardens, some were smooth newts still in their terrestrial colours (brown with darker spots) and these are the beautiful alpine newts. You can differentiate them by their spotless, bright orange bellies.

Did you know in their terrestrial juvenile stage they are called 'efts'?

Ichthyosaura alpestris

02/2024, Germany

[newtsnaturethings]

Your opinion on newts?

Ooooh buddy you have opened the floodgates.

Newts are great. 12/10 animal.

They are shaped. Like. They are long. They can wiggle. A newt is basically a lizard shape but squishy (and no lizards didn’t evolve from salamanders or newts; convergent evolution happened and that shape just happened to be successful. Wiggly noodle with legs. Here for it).

Their tails are long and good for paddling in moving water.

They have semi-permeable skin. Yes this means they need to stay close to water, but seriously. Creeks and rivers are some of the most pleasant places to just hang around and listen to the sounds of nature…mosquitos notwithstanding.

And speaking of water - newts spend some time in the water and some time out it. They can breath in both. That’s cool as hell.

They have three distinct live stages, the final form being the adult newt we know and love. Their juveniles are called efts which is just objectively adorable and cool.

Their skin releases a neurotoxin so that bigger stuff doesn’t eat them (garter snakes being the exception…evolutionary arms race babyyyyy). Literal touch of death. They also will do a display if you tick them off to show like “hey bitch just TRY to eat me you’ll regret it”. Newts know what they’re about.

Some of them have a yearly migration. Migrations are cool. I spent a good amount of my undergrad studying animal migrations. Literally the coolest shit ever.

Also newts are just. Objectively so pretty. My personal favorite are the newts in genus Taricha, which have deep brown skin and bright orange bellies. And of the four newts in genus Taricha my absolute favorite are the Sierra newts, cause they hang around in my favorite mountain range of all time. Their just little guys. Hanging in streams. Wiggling through the undergrowth. Doing their thing. Love those funky little dudes.

So yeah. Newts

Thanks for the ask

[antlermoss]

I wanted to try my hand at a warrior OC generator. This one is pretty long, user beware! If you end up drawing or using them, please tag me, I would love to see them.

Welcome to the Beyond, friend, where souls are created and sent to the world below. It’s time to begin a new incarnation.

We’ll start with their name. Choose the first letter of your chosen name.

A - Antler

B - Bee

C - Coyote

D - Deer

E - Egret

F - Ferret

G - Golden

H - Hawthorn

I - Indigo

J - Jackdaw

K - Kite

L - Lily

M - Mossy

N - Newt

O - Oleander

P - Pine

Q - Quail

R - Robin

S - Silk

T - Tansy

U - Umber

V - Viper

W - Wolf

X - Ox

Y - Yarrow

Z - Zinnia

Good, this will be the cat’s prefix. Next, let’s choose their appearance. Choose your favorite season, then the month of your creation. (Up for interpretation, your birthday or any other date important to your identity.)

New-Leaf

January - White and Gray

February - White and Cream

March - Lilac

April - Fawn

May - Cinnamon

June - Ivory

July - Sand

August - Orange and white

September - Silver gray

October - Warm gray

November - Cool gray

December - White

Green-Leaf

January - Chestnut

February - Ash

March - Mahogany

April - Orange

May - Golden

June - Pale yellow

July - Gray and cream

August - Amber

September - Bronze

October - Copper

November - Fiery orange

December - White and yellow

Leaf-Fall

January - Taupe

February - Warm black

March - Copper

April - Bronze

May - Mahogany

June - Pine

July - Russet

August - Brown and orange

September - Black and cream

October - Orange and black

November - Black and White

December - Cool black

Leaf-Bare

January - Black and White

February - Cool silver

March - Stony blue

April - Lilac

May - Black and gray

June - Blue

July - Dark blue

August - Dark gray

September - Warm silver

October - Steely gray

November - White

December - Black

This will be their pelt color.

Next, Look to the skies. They will inform the cat's eye color.

Cloudy - Pale green

Sunny - Amber

Raining - Bright green

Storming - Vibrant yellow

Snowing - Blue

Sleet - Blue-gray

Foggy - Icy blue

Windy - Hazel

Raining while Sunny - One blue eye, one yellow.

Which temperature are you most comfortable at? This will determine the cat's coat length.

0 to 15 °C - Long fur

16 to 25 °C - Medium fur

26 to 37 °C - Short fur

The soul now has a body. It is time for its fate to be decided. The sky will inform your decision once more, look to the moon.

New moon - Healer - This cat will heal their clanmates

Crescent moon - Hunter - This cat will keep the clan well-fed and fight when necessary

Quarter moon - Camp keeper - This cat maintains the camp and cares for the kits

Gibbous moon - Warrior - This cat defends the borders and their clanmates

Full moon - Leader - This cat will lead the clan

Meteor Shower - Gifted - This cat is gifted with a strange ability from Starclan.

Hm? You wish to know of the position of "Deputy"? Fate cares not who holds that title if they are not to become a leader. Your cat is now Ambitious.

A cat's destiny informs the suffix chosen. Roll a D12 and choose the suffix from the corresponding fate.

Healer

1 - Petal

2 - Leaf

3 - Stem

4 - Shade

5 - Pool

6 - Moon

7 - Cloud

8 - Mist

9 - Bark

10 - Web

11 - Rain

12 - Stalk

Hunter

1 - Feather

2 - Flight

3 - Shade

4 - Fall

5 - Leap

6 - Shadow

7 - Eye

8 - Ear

9 - Splash

10 - Spring

11 - Tail

12 - Wind

Warrior

1 - Claw

2 - Fang

3 - Burn

4 - Flame

5 - Storm

6 -Hawk

7 - Tooth

8 - Jaw

9 - Bite

10 - Blaze

11 - Scar

12 - Howl

Camp Keeper

1 - Mask

2 - Tuft

3 - Down

4 - Belly

5 - Heart

6 - Flower

7 - Patch

8 - Light

9 - Fern

10 - Mane

11 - Dapple

12 - Muzzle

*Leader's suffix is Star, but may vary by region.

Gifted

1 - Wish

2 - Sight

3 - Wing

4 - Frost

5 - Song

6 - Dream

7 - Dusk

8 - Dawn

9 - Omen

10 - Spark

11 - Moon

12 - Hollow

The soul is almost ready. Roll a D20 to determine at least one characteristic. You may roll up to three times, and reroll once.

1 - Six Toed

2 - Ear Tufts

3 - Deaf

4 - Long Claws

5 - Rosettes

6 - Stripes

7 - Twisted Paw

8 - Patchy Fur

9 - Excellent Listener

10 - Stalks Silently

11 - Blindness

12 - Three Legged

13 - Exposed Fangs

14 - Excellent Swimmer

15 - Beautiful

16 - Became a Healer despite destiny

17 - Became a Warrior despite destiny

18 - Became Leader despite destiny

19 - Clumsy

20 - Bobbed Tail

The soul is ready. Place them in the clan that suits them best, be it in the Lake territories or elsewhere. Their story is in your hands now.

[kiskivmiske]

It is kinda sad that there are dragons in WoF , but no dragon-related species, if you know what I mean. Dragons are the only creatures in their clade. They have a completely different body plan from all known creatures, and there were new creatures introduced in the series, like dragon flame cacti or dragonbite viper, but no mention of six-limbed lizards or anything that could be dragon's ancestor. I mean, they could originate from another planet, or their own species were wiped out by invasive Earth species, but still. I probably should make one speculative evolution tree for dragons when I finish requests, but here is what I think.

Coelacanth's or its relative's descendant walks out on land just like tiktaalik did. It keeps all of its 8 limbs, but 4 of them are more fit for swimming, while the rest is used to walk on land.

Time passes, legs become stronger, the fish grows claws to get a better grip on the surface. Fins also progressively become stronger, propelling the body underwater, while claws and teeth are used to snatch prey.

Soon, fins become more complex, develop anatomy similar to front limbs, with a shoulder and an elbow joint. The ancestor starts to spend more time, going further and further into the continent, climbing trees and rocks. This dragon's ancestor, let's call it a Swampglider, looks like a deformed hybrid between a MudWing, a HiveWing and a newt: brown or greenish in color, with four short limbs and four fins. It hunts in swamps and rivers, coming to lay eggs on land, in warm mud or in piles of decomposing leaves. Eventually, its hunting territories grow bigger, as the creature starts to use claws to climb trees. It discovers that fins allow to glide from one tree to another. It gains a new method of defense: venom glands under their teeth rebuild themselves to spray venom towards the attacker. Its legs become longer allowing it to run without dragging belly on sharp rocks. It now has a built closer to modern day dragons, although it's the size of a large house cat, but steadily growing in size from generation to generation.

Now, as it rules water, land, and air, Swampglider goes even further, leaving the swamp behind. The West of Pyrrhia is still a lush jungle, connected on the other side with Pantala, Ice Kingdom does not exist yet, but it will soon change.

As Swampglider's habitat becomes more diverse, it starts to split into different species. All species but one, start to lose one pair of wings, while the other pair becomes more flexible and strong. East of Pyrrhia, all the way to mountains, is inhabited by woodland dragons, not much different from original Swampgliders. They are also brown or green, sometimes with hints of blue, yellow or red. The ones who live near the ocean are mostly blue-ish or brown, rainforest dragons are mostly green, while dragons of the southern shores have more distinct yellow and orange hues to blend with autumn foliage. In all of those species, scales host photosynthetic bacteria. Ocean dwelling dragons and swamp dragons still have their gills, while the others lost them. The wings became stronger, the dragons now achieved powered flight.

Dragons of the mountains have slimmer build and bigger wings. Their venom spit has changed to ignite upon release.

An ice age is coming, and ocean on the north starts to freeze, spreading on the Tail islands and the head of the continent. And, on the North of the mountains, a new species rises: these dragons have copper in their blood instead of iron, and their venom spit has a very effective coolant in it. Warm blooded mountain dragons move towards the center and the Southern Ocean, as it is not as cold as the other one. Other species also move, pushing southern woodland tribe to spread all the way across the shore of the supercontinent. Swamp dragons, being forced to move to the northeastern volcanic islands, acquired a new defence mechanism: immunity to fire. That allowed them to live on those islands, which are too dangerous for the others because of their volcanic activity. They don't need sensitive gills anymore, as they do more harm than good. They don't use photosynthesis anymore and are becoming stronger and more effective hunters, always sticking in packs, they increase their kill rate. To hide from the cold, they spend free time and sleep in heated spring pools. Crossbreeding with mountain dragons gave them fire breathing ability, too, but it's not as strong as in other species, because they are not warmblooded.

In the western jungle, bug dragons emerge from those who retained all four wings for hovering flight, rather than gliding. They have more diverse methods of venom attacks. Some of them have poisonous glands under their claws and on the tip of the tail. To make the process of hatching easier, bug dragons have a much shorter egg phase, dragonets hatch undeveloped, with rudimentary wings. They actively eat for several months getting fatter, and then hide into a small burrow, coat themselves with air-drying slimy coat and hibernate. After the winter, they emerge fully developed. That way small dragonets have a bigger chance of survival during winter months, when there is not enough food and significantly more rivalry, to wake up when the food is in abundance

Meanwhile, woodland dragons have developed an unique ability to sence brain signals of other creatures. After a period of time, the had split into three subspecies: mountain dragons hybrids, who can breathe fire and read minds, forest dragons who use psychic abilities to trick others into thinking they are invisible by affecting photographic memory centers, and woodland dragons who can only read chemical signals from plants and translate them into coherent data about the plant to avoid eating diseased and inedible fruits. The first species had lost its photosynthetic bacteria and become fully nocturnal.

Sea dragons are forced to move from shallow waters deeper down from cold icy surface to heated derpwater vents rich with life, their photosynthetic bacteria changes to bioluminescent algae.

And then the continent started to crack. Eastern islands drifted to the North, western half of the continent separated and started to drift further away. Volcaolnoes erupted one after another, and methane filled the air. The ice age is gone and a global warming takes place. Ice cap is melting. Water currents change. Now, lush jungle on the west dries up, becoming a desert. At this point we can call dragons by their names, even though they aren't all pureblood.

MudWings and IceWings move back to the continent, pushing SkyWings and RainWings further to the South, while they, in their own turn, chase away NightWings and LeafWings, who, unable to defend themselves from venom spit, had to flee into the desert. NightWings, due to being nocturnal, aren't affected much by the change of temperature and are fine with desert climate. They kidneys can handle high salinity, so, instead of searching for oasis, they remain in a small wooded peninsula, closer to the ocean. LeafWings, having much more competition, are unable to fight back and forced to stay on separating Pantala. BeetleWings separate, one half stays in Pantala's grasslands, the other stays in Pyrrhian desert.

After separation, grasslands become more humid due to being near the ocean, and new rainforests emerge, food becomes abundant, and BeetleWings and LeafWings don't have to fight for supplies anymore.

Overtime, Pyrrhian BeetleWings lose their larval stage and one pair of wings, and, by breeding with SkyWings, become separate tribe, SandWings. Their hearts developed four separate chambers instead of three, which prevents blood from mixing and loosing heat. This mechanism helps them keep their bodies warm in the night, when the temperature drops.

The other part of BettleWings has retained their "larval" stage through neoteny, and it has become increasingly longer. The dragonet grows at a normal pace now, instead of turning into a fat potato worm thing, it's metabolism isn't much different from a normal dragonet, but they don't pupate and get wings until sexual maturity.

IceWing s have lost their natural habitat and have to move to Pyrrhia, suffering from heat in the northern desert, their number dropped to several thousands. Because of inbreeding, many dragons with deformities were born, one of them could bend laws of physics itself to his own will. This ability will later be known as "animus". Unusual IceWing, later named The Great Ice Dragon, being born with an unique magic ability, has sacrificed himself to preserve the cold on the head of the continent. Although IceWings have come through a bottleneck (drastic decrease in their number), they have survived.

[newt-and-salamander]

Look at this little guy I saw today! :)) I'm not an expert, but I think it was an Alpine newt/Bergmolch. I didn't turn him around because I didn't want to stress him, but getting a good look at his belly would certainly have helped. It seemed to be a faint yellow/orange, though.

He sat in literally THE WORST spot of the bike lane, practically asking to be run over, so I picked him up and set him down a few metres away at a deserted looking garden where he crawled under a leaf. :)

[lovecraftian-frog]

The alpine newt (Ichtyosaura alpestris) is an easily recognizable newt thanks to his beautiful orange belly.

Three things indicate that these two specimens are males. First, they have a dotted white line from their faces to their tails. Second, their legs are also heavily dotted. Finally, they have a discrete striped crest on their back.

This 10 cm (4 inches) long species of newt is the one I saw the most when saving amphibians from the road. It's a very beautiful newt with its bright colours but it's also a very good climber, even on slippery surfaces like my bucket.

/!\ Amphibians are protected. Do not touch them without the right authorization. If you have to, wear gloves or wet your hands to not harm them by accidentaly stealing their mucus, suffocating them /!\

[herpsandbirds]

California Newts aka Orange-bellied Newts (Taricha torosa), family Salamandridae, in a big breeding aggregation w/ eggs, CA, USA.

Poisonous.

photograph by Anton Sorokin

[rapidpunches]

Sorry if this has been brought to your attention already.

Rough skinned newts neurotoxin is secreted out of the skin on their back and it is a whitish liquid. They will usually do a warning display where they arch their neck and tail up to show their orange belly.

If they're not doing that and there's no visible toxin, just picking them up won't cause you harm. Obviously licking one wouldn't be the smartest, but you'd know if you got the neurotoxin on you.

It is an extremely deadly neurotoxin, and the newts seem to know that and are remarkably chill about being handled. Just be gentle, the oils and other chemicals from hand lotions are bad for them.

I'm glad you cared about the little newt, they're wonderful creatures.

Oh yes a ton of people reached out to reassure me but I'll reply to this one since it summarizes the newt best. I'm happy he was so chill about being moved quick travel leaf-editon. There's a dog in the house who would've tried to eat him!!

[fabuloustrash05]

Look I know Newtralizer was probably around on Earth for quite a while and managed to learn some basic stuff about society but- Never did I think he would learn what Naruto is and start to Naruto run- No seriously one time when I was rewatching When Worlds Collide I realized he was literally Naruto running with Mikey. Fire-belly alien Newt caught Naruto running with a small orange masked turtle caught in 4k

I honestly don’t think Newtrailer KNEW the Naruto run, we’ve seen many characters run that way, so we can’t really say he was mimicking a running style from an anime when many other characters have run that way, such as: The Turtles, April, Karai, Shinigami, Splinter and Alopex.

But it would be hilarious to think that ALL these characters are Naruto fans XD