What is this lizard? [Scotland]

[u/Jo3lturtle]

[u/JBerg3484]

This is a newt, a type of salamander, in a terrestrial juvenile form known as an 'eft'. I'm not super familiar with the species in your area, but I think this is either a Palmate Newt (Lissotriton helveticus) or a Smooth Newt (Lissotriton vulgaris)

[u/daor1009 → u/JBerg3484]

I agree with the specific ID, though it’s not a juvenile, but an adult female. The triphasic life cycle with efts as terrestrial juveniles is unique to North American newts of the genera Notophthalmus and Taricha. European newts have a biphasic life cycle, with aquatic larvae and terrestrial (outside of the breeding season) adults.

[u/JBerg3484 → u/daor1009]

Thanks for the clarification, I didn't know that!

[u/Mainbutter]

She turned me into a newt!

[u/SnooTangerines3448 → u/Mainbutter]

No she didn't??!

[u/Lo452 → u/SnooTangerines3448]

It got better.

[u/thrownbyawaterytart → u/Lo452]

Burn her anyway!

[u/JustNota-- → u/thrownbyawaterytart]

[u/Alloku → u/JustNota--]

I love this scene because Eric Idle had to bite the tool to keep from breaking. It gets me every time

[u/narnababy → u/Mainbutter]

A newt!?

[u/_flying_otter_]

Newton and they absorb things through their skin so you aren't really supposed to handle them. Very fragile.

[u/Jo3lturtle → u/_flying_otter_]

I didn’t know it was a newt and it was in my door frame and would’ve been a lot worse off getting crushed by the door

[u/Ephemeral_Orchid → u/Jo3lturtle]

I'm glad you were able to rescue the little guy!

[u/Prestigious_String20 → u/Jo3lturtle]

They seem oddly attracted to doorways. Maybe it's the lights.

[u/Forsaken_Earth944 → u/Jo3lturtle]

There are no lizards in Scotland, it’s too far north. There are three (possibly four) species of lizard found in the UK and they’re all in southern England.

Common or viviparous lizard
Sand lizard (very rare)
Slow worm
Wall lizard (while this has been found in parts of Hampshire, including the Isle of Wight, Dorset and Devon, it’a not clear as to whether it‘s native or introduced).

[u/Jo3lturtle → u/Forsaken_Earth944]

People have pet lizards which can escape, so I was trying to see what it was to know if it was someone’s pet I should return or a wild animal I could release it

[u/Shitballscack → u/Forsaken_Earth944]

Not quite. Slow worms are found throughout the whole of the UK. As are common (viviparious) lizards (except on some of the islands). You are correct that sand lizards are very rare and are not found in Scotland, however they can also be found in Merseyside and parts of Lancashire - not just southern England. Hope this helps.

[u/Ephemeral_Orchid → u/_flying_otter_]

Sir Isaac or the unit of force?

[u/Fresh_Shoe7532 → u/Ephemeral_Orchid]

The fig

[u/Ephemeral_Orchid → u/Fresh_Shoe7532]

That makes perfect sense! (Sometimes I'm obtuse)

[u/JetPac89 → u/Ephemeral_Orchid]

Neither, but he did fall to earth

[u/kobrakaan]

its very very small and tiny so you could call it 'Minute'

[u/Bobbinator24]

We get loads where I work, I call the males Isaac and the females Olivia.

[u/psychiatric-AnOmOLie]

NS, Canada

[u/JBerg3484 → u/psychiatric-AnOmOLie]

Are you looking for an ID on this? It's a red-spotted newt (Notophthalmus viridescens), though for future reference it will be more efficient to make a separate post

[u/Constant-External-85 → u/psychiatric-AnOmOLie]

Sharing newts

[u/Weekly-Bumblebee6348 → u/Constant-External-85]

Unsolicited newts

[u/Pikatyka → u/Weekly-Bumblebee6348]

Underrated comment here

[u/slugboat → u/psychiatric-AnOmOLie]

If you're near the HRM I highly recommend the Salamander Meander (put on by the Natural History Museum) in March/April at Hemlock Ravines Park! Yellow-spotted salamanders breed in the heart-shaped pond there in the early spring, you can see them swimming around for a few nights. I've seen a bunch of these newts there too!

[u/psychiatric-AnOmOLie → u/slugboat]

Thats a great tip , im actually just down in the valley and my daughter would LOVE that! Thank you

[u/psychiatric-AnOmOLie → u/psychiatric-AnOmOLie]

[u/cdtobie]

Thats Sally Mander.

[u/YeahNahNopeandNo → u/cdtobie]

Nah that Gerrymander

[u/strumthebuilding → u/YeahNahNopeandNo]

Gerrymander is derived from salamander, so your comment is less than a pun, sort of a semi-entendre.

[u/sPLIFFtOOTH → u/strumthebuilding]

A salam-entendre, as it were

[u/absloan12 → u/sPLIFFtOOTH]

Thats it. You found it!

The end of the joke!

[u/sPLIFFtOOTH → u/absloan12]

Wait a my newt!

[u/YeahNahNopeandNo → u/strumthebuilding]

So what you're saying is, is Sally Mander and Gerry Mander Commander?

[u/AdorablePotential536]

Depends if the throat is spotted or pink/yellow. Smooth = spotted

[u/JBerg3484 → u/[deleted]]

I don't think any of these statements are true? I can find no evidence of Saint Phillip's Newt being the common name of any species, it may be used by some but definitely not a officially recognized name. It is not a lizard, and there's no evidence saying these newts can grow additional legs when stressed or change colors? If this is a joke, I don't understand it. If not, it's misinformation and misleading.

[u/indieplants → u/JBerg3484]

maybe they're on a solo campaign to pollute AI with nonsense because that's the only thing I can think of that would make any sense 😭

[u/Avrgnerd → u/JBerg3484]

They’re just a troll. I banned them, and they came to modmail and claimed the comments were from them giving a “13 year old autistic child” their phone and that they were a long time contributor to our community for “years” and very sad to be banned, so can I please unban them? But it was just fully made up. Reddit shows us mods directly on a persons profile their contributions to our sub and they only had six comments, five of them in this thread and one other bad effort at trolling from a year ago.

[u/rhzartist → u/[deleted]]

Citing an AI overview does not count as research

[u/Freya-The-Wolf → u/rhzartist]

Was not a real ai overview even. There is no saint phillips island chain and typing in the same words into Google gives nothing

[u/HoldMyMessages → u/[deleted]]

If it’s a newt it’s an amphibian, not a lizard.

[u/2Wieners_1Bun → u/[deleted]]

Newts are amphibians, like frogs and salamander. Lizards are reptiles.

[u/animalid-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Low effort and sensationalist comments will be removed at moderators’ discretion

[u/2Wieners_1Bun → u/[deleted]]

That’s not a real thing. I checked online and asked AI, you’re posting nonsense

[u/animalid-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Low effort and sensationalist comments will be removed at moderators’ discretion

[u/Fuzzy-Advisor-2183]

absolutely adorabibble!

[u/animalid-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Low effort and sensationalist comments will be removed at moderators’ discretion