This is the Red Eft stage of the Red Spotted Newt.  It was found, photographed, and released in the Camp Creek area of Dickenson County, VA. 

Information on the Red Spotted Newt, from "A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America" Third Edition, Expanded, by Roger Conant and Joseph T. Collins.  ISBN 0-395-90452-8, Page 442-443

RED SPOTTED NEWT

Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens

       IDENTIFICATION: 2 1/4-4 3/16 in. (5.7-12.2 cm); record 5 1/4 in. (14 cm).  Up to 21 red spots, variable in number and position, are present at all stages of the complex life history.   The aquatic adults, although normally olive-green, may vary  from yellowish brown to dark greenish brown.  Their venters are yellow with small black spots.   Male: Both the high tail fin and black excrescences on the hind legs disappear after the spring breeding season, but they may develop again as early as the following autumn.  Red Eft: 1 3/8 - 3 3/8 in (3.5-8.6 co). Bright orange-red to dull red or orange, the most brilliantly colored ones usually occurring in moist, forested mountains or other upland habitats.  Individuals recently transformed from the larval to eft stage may be yellowish brown or dull reddish brown  Specimens transforming to adult form (or aquatic adults that have had to live out of water, as when ponds dry up) may be very dark, even almost black.  Neoteny is rare.

        Ponds, small lakes, marshes, ditches, quiet portions of streams, or other permanent or semipermanent bodies of un-polluted water are the most frequent habitats during aquatic stages.  This newt has been found at a depth of dearly 40ft. (12m) in lake George, New York.  Adults may be seen resting motionless or swimming about slowly in open water or crawling on the bottom or through vegetation.  Often they remain active all winter and my be observed through the ice.  The terrestrial efts, although, avoiding direct sunlight, are extraordinarily bold, often walking about in the open on the forest floor in broad daylight.  After summer showers in the mountainous regions they sometimes may be seen by scores or even hundreds.  In many areas, notably on the Coastal Plain, the land stage may be omitted, presumably in response to harsher environmental conditions.  SIMILAR SPECIES: Most other small  salamanders have slimy skins and conspicuous coastal grooves.  RANGE: Canadian maritime Provinces to Great Lakes and south to cen. GA and Ala.