SKELETONS OF SEIROCRINUS SUBANGULARISCRINOIDS (CRINOIDEA, ECHINODERMATA)(MILLER, 1821) FROM THE COLLECTION OFTHE NATURE EDUCATION CENTRE OF THEJAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The Nature Education Centre of the JagiellonianUniversity in Krakow has in its collection a spectacular fossil ofa Jurassic crinoid, in literature known as Seirocrinus subangularis(Miller). Only several museums in Central Europe can boast sucha perfectly preserved and complete specimen of Seirocrinus. Asseen against Polish museum collections the slab in questionis an outstanding object. That very form was a cosmopolitanand pseudoplanktonic crinoid species spread throughoutAsia, Europe, and Northern America, yet it has never beendocumented in Poland. The particular specimen reached Polandin the mid-19th century from Germany to enrich the collectionof the Mineralogical Cabinet. The paper presents the turbulenthistory of the slab with some dozen specimens of echinodermson it, the story which will shortly have a happy end, since itwill be permanently placed as a geological exhibit at the NatureEducation Centre of the Jagiellonian University.