Dhaka, Sept. 29 -- Scientists have identified a new species of penguin for the first time in more than 100 years, after finding evidence that gentoo penguins comprise four distinct species.

Researchers identified the previously unknown species, named Pygoscelis kerguelensis, as part of a study published in Communications Biology.

The research was led by penguin experts including Chilean and University of California, Berkeley biologists.

The new species, also known as the southeastern gentoo penguin, lives on the remote Kerguelen Islands in the Indian Ocean, around 1,200 miles north of Antarctica.

The discovery marks the first identification of a new penguin species by scientists in more than a century. The last was the northern rockho...