The first known fossil record of pygmy pipehorses (Teleostei: Syngnathidae: Hippocampinae) from the Miocene Coprolitic Horizon,Tunjice Hills,Slovenia

The first known fossil record of pygmy pipehorses is described. The fossils were collected in the Middle Miocene (Sarmatian) beds of the Coprolitic Horizon in the Tunjice Hills, Slovenia. They belong to a new genus and species Hippotropiscis frenki, which was similar to the extant representatives of Acentronura, Amphelikturus, Idiotropiscis, and Kyonemichthys genera. Hippotropiscis frenki lived among seagrasses and macroalgae and probably also on a mud and silt bottom in the temperate shallow coastal waters of the western part of the Central Paratethys Sea. The high coronet on the head, the ridge system and the high angle at which the head is angled ventrad indicate that Hippotropiscis is most related to Idiotropiscis and Hippocampus (seahorses) and probably separated from the main seahorse lineage later than Idiotropiscis.