diff --git a/io_mesh_ply/import_ply.py b/io_mesh_ply/import_ply.py
index 7d16be1f3f5e90ad1d5c2cea30cc8170b1352234..76e5ff1e025433d36055b17b6f5aec0a90cd2fae 100644
--- a/io_mesh_ply/import_ply.py
+++ b/io_mesh_ply/import_ply.py
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ def read(filepath):
                   b'uint8': 'B',
                   b'int16': 'h',
                   b'uint16': 'H',
+                  b'short': 'h',
                   b'ushort': 'H',
                   b'int': 'i',
                   b'int32': 'i',