The name was originally used by Edward Hitchcock as a higher group name rather than a specific ichnogenera, and thus the name does not have priority over specific ichnogenera names even if they were first identified as Ornithichnites.
Less ambiguous than the above ichnogenera, are the traces left behind by invertebrates such as Hibbertopterus, a giant "sea scorpion" or eurypterid of the early Paleozoic era.