Eastern newts belong to the Notophthalmus genus of amphibians. Three species of newts -- eastern, black-spotted and striped -- are part of this genus. The eft stage of eastern newts begins after 2 to 5 months. While they are in their eft stage, eastern newts are orange-red and have two rows of black-bordered spots. The bright colors of eastern newts serve as a warning of toxicity to predators. Eastern newts remain in their eft stage for 2 to 3 years.
As the names implies, the Pacific newt species lives in the U.S. and Canadian Pacific Coast regions. Pacific newts are in the Taricha genus. This genus has three species: rough-skinned, California and red-bellied newts. The largest newt in this genus, the California newt, grows up to 5 or 8 inches. While it is an eft, California newts are terrestrial, living under logs and rocks; they remain in this stage until after their first winter. All Pacific newts have bright red underbellies, even when they are efts.
As adults and efts, banded newts are yellow-brown with black dots on their skin. Banded newts are native to Eurasian countries -- Turkey and Russia -- and the Middle East. Efts are born in the spring and develop into adulthood over the course of the ensuing summer. These newts live at elevations of 3,300 to 5,300 feet.
Ribbed newts are able to poke their rib bones through pores on their skin. This emergence serves as a defense mechanism against predators. When they are young, the Iberian ribbed newt -- native to Spain -- has a cream or yellow belly and dark dorsal region. Also, Iberian ribbed newt larvae and efts are commonly used for research in outer space research stations. This newt species is in the Pleurodeles genus, along with the Algerian ribbed newt and Edough ribbed newt.
Native to Europe, alpine newts are amphibians that grow in cold waters at high elevations. These newts do not experience a terrestrial eft stage when they are young. Instead, alpine newts develop in cold water. The development stage for alpine newts lasts between 18 months to 3 years after its birth. Various subspecies of these newts are the Spanish alpine, Italian alpine, Bosnian alpine and Greek alpine.