Newts are threatened by habitat loss, fragmentation and pollution. Several species are endangered, and at least one species, the Yunnan lake newt, has gone extinct recently.
Newts are found in North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia. The Pacific newts (Taricha) and the Eastern newts (Notophthalmus) with together seven species are the only representatives in North America, while most diversity is found in the Old World: In Europe and the Middle East, the group’s likely origin, eight genera with roughly 30 species are found, with the ribbed newts (Pleurodeles) extending to northernmost Africa. Eastern Asia, from Eastern India over Indochina to Japan, is home to five genera with more than 40 species.
Newts are semiaquatic, spending part of the year in the water for reproduction and the rest of the year on land. While most species prefer stagnant water bodies such as ponds, ditches or flooded meadows for reproduction, some species such as the Danube crested newt can also occur in slow-flowing rivers. The European brook newts (Calotriton) and European mountain newts (Euproctus) have even adapted to life in cold, oxygen-rich mountain streams. During their terrestrial phase, newts live in humid habitats with abundant cover such as logs, rocks, or earth holes.
Newts form one of three subfamilies in the family Salamandridae, aside Salamandrinae and Salamandrininae.
The term “newt” has traditionally been seen as an exclusively functional term for salamanders living in water, and not a clade. Phylogenetic analyses have however shown that species in the Salamandridae traditionally called newts do form a monophyletic group. Other, more distantly related salamander families also contain fully or in part aquatic species, such as the mole salamanders, the Proteidae, or the Sirenidae.
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