Gwynia capsula

(Jeffreys, 1859) · species

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Animalia/Brachiopoda/Rhynchonellata/Terebratulida/Megathyrididae/Gwynia

At a glance

Occurrence records176

Data sources9

Biological traits4

DNA specimens1

eDNA detections1

Sources9 archives

Databases and archives Gwynia capsula's data was compiled from.

WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗

BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗

GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility81 records↗

OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System95 records↗

ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI1 eDNA detections↗

BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics1 specimens↗

Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗

Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗

Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗

On this page5 sections

Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.

NarrativeWikipediaarticle

Traits & measurements1 literature sources4 traits

Occurrence & distributionGBIF · OBIS176 records

Environmental DNA1 datasets · 0 countries1 detections

DNA & barcodingBOLD1 specimens

01Narrative

Gwynia capsula is a very small to minute brachiopod (maximally 1.5 mm long), currently known from the east Atlantic (France, Belgium, British Isles),Voskuil, R. P. A. (2004). De Recente en Tertiaire Brachiopoden van het Nederlandse strand: een inventarisatie van de literatuur en commentaar op het vermeende voorkomen van Gwynia capsula (Jeffreys, 1859) in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. Het Zeepaard 64(2):45-58 but which occurred during the Pleistocene in what is now Norway. It has a translucent, whitish, purse-shaped shell with relatively large, wide-spaced pits (or punctae). It lives attached to stones or shells (fragments) in between large grains of sand. Like in all brachiopods, it filters food particles, chiefly diatoms and dinoflagellates. Gwynia capsula harbors a small number of larvae inside a brood pouch, but it has separate sexes, unlike also very small and pouch brooding brachiopods Argyrotheca and Joania, which are hermaphrodites.

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.

02Traits & measurements

SourcesSeaLifeBase

Habitat & environment2

Habitat saltwateryes

Habitat zonebenthic

Other traits2

Depth max46 m

Depth min15 m

05DNA & barcoding1 specimens

A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Gwynia capsula has left across the world's sequence archives.

At a glance

DNA specimens1

Marker genes1

eDNA detections1

Marker genes sequenced

18S-5P

ribosomal

07Deep time~325 Ma lineage

How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.

At a glance

DNA clock origin325 Ma TimeTree

When this lineage existed

How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard periods (Jurassic, Cretaceous…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. The dashed rules marked ✦ are the five great mass extinctions. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.

DNA clock originmass extinction

How it livedPBDB

Environmentmarine

Life habitlow-level epifaunal

Dietsuspension feeder

Motilitystationary

Visionblind

Compositionlow Mg calcite

08Occurrence & distribution

Record type176 records

Wild obs. + sensor45

Museum / vouchered71

Fossil1

Other59

Range

Area of Occupancy AOO128 km²

Depth

0–200 m sunlit46

200–1000 m twilight0

1–4 km midnight0

>4 km abyssal1

median 27.5 m · max 4 987 m · 47 records with depth

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km

≤100 m 7

7 georeferenced · 38 without coordinates

Open the mapobservation + sensor45

Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence

Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.

Coordinate accuracy25% within 1 km

≤100 m 1>10 km 3

4 georeferenced · 67 without coordinates

Open the institutions mapphysical evidence71

Wildobservation + sensor

Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.

10Collections & institutions

Holding institutions1 of 7 geolocated

Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.

Institution	Specimens
Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO)location not on record	36
CEFASlocation not on record	7
P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanologylocation not on record	6
DASSHlocation not on record	1
Brussels, BE	1
RBINS-Scientific Heritagelocation not on record	1
PNHSlocation not on record	1

7 institutions · 53 of 71 vouchered records shown

09Environmental DNA1 detections

Where the DNA of Gwynia capsula was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.

Signal

Detections DNA found1

Studies independent surveys1

Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections

Where its DNA was found

0 of 1 detections have coordinates

Open the map0 countries0

How strong is each trace?

DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.

How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.

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