RAUK - Archived Forum - Posts by marshalld:

Hi,

I dont know anything about lizards newts etc.

Yesterday, my 4yo son found a lizard/newt under a rotting branch amongst the leaf fall in the middle of an New Forest enclosure (not near rivers/ponds) but probably about 100 yards far from the nearest drainage ditch which usually are sodden if not actually containing standing water.

To me the, creature looked extremely lizard like. It was no more than 8cm tall from head to tail tip. The skin was however smooth rather than scaly. The most distinguishing feature (which I though would make identification a doddle) was a thin yellow line running down the back. All the other features were lizard-like - no crests, or tails like the newts I remeber from childhood.

It was however extremely easy to catch (playing dead) which made me think it was some kind of one-year old lizard recent emerging from hibernation.

Any help much appreciated.

Cheers

Thanks for the replies.

I will check with my wife about the orange belly as I cant remember. With regard to pictures posted, it looked much more like the 3rd one than the 2nd. The skin appearance and touch i.e. smooth/velety was very much like the 1st picture. I guess that makes it a newt!

The yellow line was quite distinctive and well defined - only a mm wide but "Microsoft Emotion" yellow!!

Sorry to mislead you a bit - my colour blindness is worse than I thought.

Apparently the stripe was more orangy than yellow. The rest of the new was green/black with the exception of an orange underbelly.

It felt smooth to the touch - does this make it a Smooth Newt?