Examination of the holotype of Peltodytes obesus Peschel, 1923, shows that Zimmermann (1924) was right, that this species of unknown provenance belongs to the nearctic fauna, and that it is conspecific with the earlier described Peltodytes tortulosus Roberts, 1913. P. obesus is therefore established as a junior synonym of the latter species. Shortly discussed are the problems created by describing new species without knowing to which faunal region they belong.