Look-alike, but not the same: Scientists name first new penguin species in over 100 years

Scientists have identified a new species of penguin for the first time in more than a century. The clue was not in how it looks. It was in its DNA.

The bird is the southeastern gentoo penguin, named Pygoscelis kerguelensis. It lives on the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Island and, most likely, nearby Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean.

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One species becomes four

For years, the gentoo penguin was treated as a single species. It is found across Antarctica and on remote islands in the Southern Ocean.

A new genetic study shows this is wrong. Over hundreds of thousands of years, gentoos split into four separate evolutionary lineages. Researchers say each one should be counted as its own species: the northern, southern, eastern and southeastern gentoo.

Of the four, the southeastern gentoo was unknown to science until now.

The southeastern gentoo looks just like the other gentoos. Scientists call this a "cryptic species". It is a species that looks the same on the outside but is clearly different in its genes.

The team studied the whole genomes of 64 penguins from 10 breeding colonies. For the first time, the samples covered almost the entire range of the gentoo penguin. The findings were published in the journal Communications Biology.

How the split happened

The researchers say the gentoo's flexible diet played a role. Gentoos eat a wide range of food, so different groups settled in very different places. Over time, each group adapted to its own environment. The southeastern gentoo evolved close to the Polar Front, the zone where cold Antarctic waters meet warmer waters to the north.

A long debate ends

Gentoo taxonomy has been argued over for years. Some researchers had earlier suggested splitting the bird into as many as six species. A 2020 study proposed four. The new paper is a consensus of experts from several countries, backed by much larger genetic data.

"There's probably no species of penguin where the taxonomy has been more debated than the gentoo penguin," said Rauri Bowie, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-senior author of the study.

Why it matters

The new count changes how the birds are protected. Earlier, a healthy gentoo population in one region could hide the decline of another. Now each species can be assessed on its own.

Three of the four are already considered threatened as climate change alters the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic. The southern gentoo, the only one living in Antarctica itself, faces less climate risk and may even expand its range. The southeastern gentoo has a small population and is among those whose future is uncertain.

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Bowie told The Washington Post that the study also showed how urgently these fragile ecosystems need protection. The researchers want conservation bodies in every country involved to recognise the new species and act to save them.

The team says the genetic data will have other uses. One researcher is already searching the penguin genomes for changes that help birds survive avian influenza, which is hitting penguins, other birds and mammals across the world.

The gentoo is the third-largest penguin, after the emperor and the king.