diff --git a/src/scanpydoc/elegant_typehints/_autodoc_patch.py b/src/scanpydoc/elegant_typehints/_autodoc_patch.py
index 3e1c898..10a7db4 100644
--- a/src/scanpydoc/elegant_typehints/_autodoc_patch.py
+++ b/src/scanpydoc/elegant_typehints/_autodoc_patch.py
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ def add_directive_header(self: ClassDocumenter, sig: str) -> None:
             )
             # But maybe in the future it will
             lines.replace(f":{role}:`{old_name}`", f":{role}:`{new_name}`")
+            if any("." not in name for name in (old_name, new_name)):
+                continue  # pragma: no cover
             old_mod, old_cls = old_name.rsplit(".", 1)
             new_mod, new_cls = new_name.rsplit(".", 1)
             replace_multi_suffix(