diff --git a/src/mesh/ItemValue.hpp b/src/mesh/ItemValue.hpp
index eb9f23113c3d2dc6694a06fd1af080eaf4705a49..a9049a394d225f68086a8c4038d8159928405612 100644
--- a/src/mesh/ItemValue.hpp
+++ b/src/mesh/ItemValue.hpp
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class ItemValue
   friend PUGS_INLINE ItemValue<std::remove_const_t<DataType>, item_type, ConnectivityPtr>
   copy(const ItemValue<DataType, item_type, ConnectivityPtr>& source)
   {
-    ItemValue<std::remove_const_t<DataType>, item_type, ConnectivityPtr> image(source);
+    ItemValue<std::remove_const_t<DataType>, item_type, ConnectivityPtr> image(*source.connectivity_ptr());
 
     image.m_values = copy(source.m_values);
     return image;