diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 570d4c50..435c9acc 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ S3method(as.hxsurf,mesh3d)
 S3method(as.im3d,im3d)
 S3method(as.im3d,matrix)
 S3method(as.list,neuronlistfh)
+S3method(as.list,neuronlistz)
 S3method(as.mesh3d,ashape3d)
 S3method(as.mesh3d,boundingbox)
 S3method(as.mesh3d,hxsurf)
diff --git a/R/neuronlistz.R b/R/neuronlistz.R
index 371fe53f..e5b02dc3 100644
--- a/R/neuronlistz.R
+++ b/R/neuronlistz.R
@@ -114,3 +114,7 @@ read_from_zip <- function(zipfile, p, multi=FALSE, neuron=TRUE) {
   new=as.neuronlist(l, df=attr(x, 'df')[ichecked, , drop=FALSE])
   copy_nl_attributes(new, x, ignoremore=c("keyfilemap", "db"))
 }
+
+# this is needed to make lapply behave properly
+#' @export
+as.list.neuronlistz<-function(x, ...) x
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-neuronlistz.R b/tests/testthat/test-neuronlistz.R
index 629bef66..54d135a8 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-neuronlistz.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-neuronlistz.R
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ test_that("neuronlistz works", {
   nz <- neuronlistz(tf2)
   expect_equal(nz[1:5], Cell07PNs[1:5])
   
+  expect_equal(nvertices(nz), nvertices(Cell07PNs[1:5]))
+  
   nz2 <- neuronlistz(tf2, patt = "EBH.*")
   expect_equal(rownames(nz2[,]), c("EBH11R", "EBH20L", "EBH20R"))
   expect_equal(nz2[[1]], nz2["EBH11R"][[1]])