Early season diet of the Red-spotted Newt, <i>Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens</i>, from artificial vernal pools in south-central Pennsylvania: A possible trade-off between survival and reproduction

T he Eastern Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) is a geo- graphically widespread polytypic species of eastern North America (Powell et al. 2016).In Pennsylvania, the Red-spotted Newt (N.v. viridescens) is found throughout the commonwealth (Meshaka and Collins 2012).A wide range of prey (Surface 1913), including amphibian eggs (Hulse et al. 2001;Meshaka et al. 2025), comprise its diet in Pennsylvania.Many females were gravid in March in a complex of small artificially created vernal pools adjacent to an artificial pond in south-central Pennsylvania; these provided information on clutch characteristics (Meshaka and Morales 2016).Using specimens from the Meshaka and Morales (2016) study and others from that site in March of previous years, we examined the composition of the diets of these ephemerally residential newts whose own reproductive success was jeopardized by the hydroperiod of the habitat.The study site, known as Jerry's Flat, is a heavily wooded mixed deciduous forest located near Boiling Springs, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.Adjacent to Ridge Road, an unimproved road that bisects the forest, is a ca.50 x 25-m permanent pond created by the Civilian Conservation Corp during the late 1930s for use as a water source to fight fires.The pond is shallow and has an extensive littoral zone but at no time since 1972 has the pond dried completely (EW, pers.obs.).Jefferson Salamanders (Ambystoma jeffersonianum), Wood Frogs (Rana sylvatica), Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), and Red-spotted Newts breed in this pond, and generally in that order.Northern Spring Peepers (Pseudacris crucifer crucifer) first appeared at the site in the 1990s (EW, pers.obs.).Seasonally inundated artificially created pools were immediately adjacent to as far as 35 m from the permanent pond.