Marine trace fossils are not generally considered to be useful as climatic indicators, because of their usually long stratigraphic ranges, and because ichnotaxa may have been formed by a variety of different animals. However Ophiomorpha is today formed only in tropical/subtropical sediments. This appears to have been the case in older sediments, back at least to the early Caenozoic. The burrows of spatangoid echinoids forming Scolicia and Bichordites have a wider range (temperate to tropical). Together, and with regard to a few other trace fossils (Diplocraterion, Lingulichnus, Renichnus, and possibly Cruziana) these two conspicuous trace fossils offer small but significant climatic indications, if certain safeguards regarding identification are observed.