A study of the literature dealing with the Neritidae of the Indo-Australian Archipelago revealed that the well known spiny Nerite, Neritina aculeata (Gmelin, 1791), is in need of a new name. Gmelin (1791: 3686) described this species originally as Nerita aculeata, while referring to a description and figure in the now rejected work of Chemnitz (1788: 305, pl. 169 fig. 1642). This name, however, is not available because it is a junior homonym of Nerita aculeata Müller, 1774, which again is a junior homonym of the West African potamidid Tympanotonos fuscatus (Linnaeus, 1758). Gmelin’s taxon was probably so well known that it has never been redescribed under another name. However, in several collections we found specimens identified as either “ Neritina squamispina Mousson” or “ Neritina sulcata Nyst”. Both are apparently manuscript names and thus not available.