Palmate Newt
Identification: Small and slender, length up to 9 cm. Females larger than males. Three grooves on the head. A dark stripe through the eye from the nose to the forelimbs, with a light coloured zone on the underside of this stripe. Light brown, yellowish or olive on the back with dark spots that may form lines, especially in females. Often an olive marbling on head and body and a light band on the border of belly and flanks. Usually a light spot above the joint of the hind limbs and two light spots on the ball of the hind foot. The mid-part of the belly is silvery yellow to orange, the throat whitish to pinkish and usually both are unspotted. Males have a fold on the border of back and flank and in the aquatic stage they have strong dark webbing on the hind feet and an almost square-ending tail with a 5-8 mm long dark filament at the tip. A low, smooth-edged crest on the back is continuous with a well-developed smooth-edged crest on the tail. This has large dark spots, an orange band in the middle, and on the underside, is bordered with a pearly row of spots or a band. Females are more uniform light greyish brown and have no crest on the back. Also, in females the tail often ends in a filament up to 3 mm long, much shorter than in males. They are difficult to distinguish from female Common Newts. In the terrestrial stage, the animals are dark greyish brown and less spotted. Males have a blackish brown or black cloaca, while in females it is light coloured with sometimes a dark edge. Terrestrial stage females sometimes have a light stripe running over the middle of the back. On the middle of the back, newly metamorphosed animals have a yellow to orange stripe that starts on the neck and ends on the upper part of the tail.
Range: Northwest Europe. Widespread in Britain, although rare in the east Midlands and East Anglia. Also found in Jersey, but not in Ireland.
Habitat: Mostly in cool sites in moist woodland. Breeding in cool, relatively small, still to slow running waters. Often in waters that are less attractive to the Common Newt, because they are too shady, too acidic or too poor in nutrients. They occur in the Pyrenees up to altitudes of 2400 metres.
Habits: In the breeding season, active day and night, while in the terrestrial stage active only at night in moist weather conditions. They emerge from hibernation in early March and the breeding season continues to June. In the course of the season, they produce 300-450 eggs, each of them separately stuck to water plants or folded in a small leaf. The larvae hatch after 1-3 weeks and are 8-12 mm long. They first feed on plankton, later on bigger invertebrates. After 6-7 weeks, they are 4-5 cm long and ready to metamorphose. Sometimes the larvae overwinter in the water and metamorphose in spring. Newly metamorphosed salamanders are 3-4 cm long and often have an orange stripe over the middle of the back. Usually they mature after two years, females a little later than males. Until then, the young animals live on land. During July, adult newts leave the water, males absorbing their crests and tail filaments and becoming more drab in appearance. They are fully terrestrial during August and September, preparing for hibernation by feeding on worms and other small invertebrates. There is a migration of some animals to the breeding water in autumn, and these overwinter in the water. But usually, the newts hibernate on land in deep leaf litter.
How to find: In the breeding season in water, after this period beneath stones and logs or amongst vegetation. Small garden ponds are often used for breeding. Sometimes they hibernate in cellars.