diff --git a/R/catmaid_nat.R b/R/catmaid_nat.R
index 79a2f4f..6605b34 100644
--- a/R/catmaid_nat.R
+++ b/R/catmaid_nat.R
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ read.neuron.catmaid<-function(skid, pid=1L, conn=NULL, ...) {
   n[names(res[-1])]=res[-1]
   fields_to_include=c("url", "headers")
   n[fields_to_include]=attributes(res)[fields_to_include]
+  class(n)=c('catmaidneuron', 'neuron')
   n
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-fetch.R b/tests/testthat/test-fetch.R
index ce63be7..5d27c2b 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-fetch.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-fetch.R
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ test_that("get neuron", {
 test_that("read.neuron(s).catmaid", {
   if(!inherits(conn, 'try-error')){
     expect_is(n<-read.neuron.catmaid(pid=1, skid=10418394, conn=conn), 'neuron')
+    # check that we also have this specialised class
+    expect_is(n, 'catmaidneuron')
     expect_is(nl<-read.neurons.catmaid(c(4453485,10418394), conn=conn), 'neuronlist')
     expect_is(df<-as.data.frame(nl), 'data.frame')
     expect_is(df$name, "character")