This furrow, which may be broken, set at an angle, and of varying width and depth, is thought to be the result of the tail region contacting the substrate.

Sir Richard Owen, the noted British paleontologist and anatomist who coined the term “Dinosauria”, based Protichnites on trackways that were shipped to him from the Cambrian Potsdam Sandstone of Quebec.

Additional material was collected in Quebec, Ontario, New York, Wisconsin, and Missouri for the next 150 years without a single fossil of the maker of these traces.

[6] It has also been suggested that some P. eremita may have been produced by distressed individuals attempting to return to a body of water after being stranded during high tide, which was more extensive than today due to the moon being closer to Earth in Cambrian times.

In cases where the feet penetrate the sediment more deeply than does the tail, Diplichnites could be created on the underlying layer while Protichnites is being produced on the surface.