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newt

newt, name for members of a large salamander family, widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere and including the common European salamanders. Newts are lizardlike in shape and are usually under 6 in. (15 cm) long including the slender tail. Some are brightly colored and secrete irritating substances. Like other salamanders, newts go through an aquatic, gilled larval stage. In some species the adults remain aquatic, although they lose their gills and breathe air; in others the adults are terrestrial, returning to water only to breed. Still other newts go through two adult stages: a terrestrial stage, during which they are called efts, is followed by a permanent aquatic stage. One such species is the common red-spotted newt (Diemictylus viridescens) of the E United States, known in its terrestrial stage as red eft. The 3-in. (7.5-cm) adult lays its eggs in spring on the stems and leaves of water plants. The greenish-brown larvae remain in the water for several months before emerging as efts, orange-red with a double row of black-ringed vermilion spots. The efts spend two or three years on land, hibernating in winter under leaves, and then return permanently to the water, becoming olive green and developing a broad swimming tail. Newts are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Amphibia, order Urodela, family Salamandridae.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

Gingrich, Newt

Gingrich, Newt (Newton Leroy Gingrich), 1943-, U.S. congressman, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (1995-98), b. Harrisburg, Pa., as Newton Leroy McPherson. A history professor, he was first elected as a Republican from Georgia in 1978 and became the leader of those House conservatives who favored using confrontational tactics to challenge the Democrats' long-time control of the House. He helped force Speaker Jim Wright's resignation in 1989 by questioning his financial dealings. That same year Gingrich became House minority whip.

In 1995, after large Republican gains in the 1994 elections (during which, touting a "Contract with America," he championed a balanced-budget amendment, limitations on welfare benefits, and term limits for members of Congress), he became the first Republican Speaker in 40 years. Often didactic, frequently combative, Gingrich led Republicans in attempts to enact conservative legislation, leading to conflicts with President Bill Clinton, most dramatically over the budget in 1995 and 1996.

The Republicans' program was only partially successful, and Clinton's confrontations with Gingrich and the House helped to restore some of the stature the president had lost after the 1994 elections. In the 1996 House elections, Republicans retained the majority and Gingrich his speakership, but he began to lose favor with the conservative bloc, who saw him as backing away from their principles. In early 1997, the House, after an investigation initiated in 1995, reprimanded Gingrich for campaign funding violations. In the 1998 congressional elections, Democrats made substantial gains in the midst of the Clinton impeachment (see Lewinsky scandal), and Gingrich abruptly resigned his speakership and House seat. In 1999, he joined a Washington think tank and became a television-network political commentator. Gingrich's books include To Renew America (1995), Winning the Future (2005), and Pearl Harbor (2007), an historical novel which he cowrote.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

newt

or eft

Warty newt (Triturus cristatus)

Any of more than 40 salamander species (family Salamandridae) prevalent in the southeastern U.S. and Mexico and also found in Asia and Great Britain. Aquatic species are called newts; terrestrial species are called efts. Newts have a long, slender body, and the tail is higher than it is wide. They eat earthworms, insects, snails, and other small animals. Both aquatic and terrestrial species breed in ponds. The three species (genus Triturus) in Britain are sometimes called tritons. The red eft (Notophthalmus viridescens) of eastern North America is bright red during its terrestrial youth, after which it becomes permanently aquatic and dull green.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.