''Gwynia capsula'' is a very small to minute brachiopod (maximally 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 The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

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

diatom A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma''), "a cutting through, a severance", from el, διάτομος, diátomos, "cut in half, divided equally" from el, διατέμνω, diatémno, "to cut in twain". is any member of a large group comprising sev ...

s and

dinoflagellate The dinoflagellates (Greek δῖνος ''dinos'' "whirling" and Latin ''flagellum'' "whip, scourge") are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered algae. Dinoflagellates are ...

s. ''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 ''Argyrotheca'' is a genus of very small to minute lampshells (maximum long). All species share a large pedicel opening (or foramen), one ridge on the inside of the pedunculate valve, pits in a diamond pattern on the inside of both valves, and ...

'' and ''Joania'', which are hermaphrodites.

References

Terebratulida Brachiopods Extant Pleistocene first appearances {{brachiopod-stub