The aquatic larvae are tan, greenish, or brown with bushy external gills and have a distinct light lateral line and dark mottling on the large tail fin.

[4] It typically inhabits fire-maintained habitats with sandy soils such as longleaf pine sandhills, scrub, scrubby flatwoods, and occasionally hammock ponds, where it breeds from late winter through spring.

Due to human interference with fire regimes, forested pond basins are developing a thicker understory, and hardwood trees are taking over the grasslands.

[5] This, combined with the natural patchy structure of the upland areas they inhabit, is leading to a decline in viable striped newt habitat.

[7] At the genetic scale, there is evidence which suggests a lack of gene flow and loss of biodiversity between breeding populations, with severe habitat fragmentation being to blame.