Prehistoric Sea Monsters / University Of Tübingen

[DE&i]

A dear friend of mine gave me a book titled Prehistoric Sea Monsters a 1964 English edition by Dr Josef Augusta the (author) a distinguished Professor of Palaeontology, with fantastic illustrations under the direction of the author by Zdenek Burian.

Featured in the book is a chapter on Plesiosaurs with two descriptive photos of splendidly preserved prepared Plesiosaur skeletons. One is Cryptocleidus oxoniensis, over 10 feet long; from the Oxford Clay, Upper Jurassic, and Fletton brick pit. And Peloneustes philarchus being the other, also over 10 feet; from the Oxford Clay, Upper Jurassic, Fletton brick pit.

The village of Fletton is only a 20 minute drive by car from my house so I was a little surprised to read references to the place in this book.

As far as I’m aware the specimens are on display in University of Tübingen has anyone seen them at this University.

[Ludwigia]

I used to visit there quite regularly but I don't remember having seen anything like that on display. I fear that they may be downstairs in the magazine. I've spent time down there as well, but it was mostly in the Middle Jurassic wing. The custodian told me that they are having increasing difficulty keeping the pyritized fossils from the Posidonien Schiefer preserved and were doing fevered experiments to make improvements, otherwise they'd soon be losing some things to decay, so I hope that doesn't apply to the Oxford Clay finds. Your best bet to find out more would be to contact them directly.