The status of this taxon is uncertain. Hydrobia neglecta is treated as a full species in Fauna Europaea, but in 1995 it had been suggested that H. neglecta is a synonym of the Mediterranean Hydrobia acuta. Then a neglectacolony in northern France was shown to be acuta. In 2000 a molecular study concluded that north-west European populations were not specifically distinct from the Mediterranean Hydrobia acuta and designated them subspeciesneglecta Muus.