diff --git a/src/agora/io/signal.py b/src/agora/io/signal.py
index 52b3122f6b67375f685fbe701b91a4113cbdf77e..83907dc091156f77b7039135c499b445f7bc1796 100644
--- a/src/agora/io/signal.py
+++ b/src/agora/io/signal.py
@@ -293,7 +293,7 @@ class Signal(BridgeH5):
                     for dset in dataset
                 ]
         except Exception as e:
-            message = f"Signal could not find data {dataset}: {e}."
+            message = f"Signal could not obtain data {dataset}: {e}."
             self._log(message)
 
     def load_merges(self):
diff --git a/src/agora/utils/indexing.py b/src/agora/utils/indexing.py
index 5e77dbb6f11077f2456df799deac5a8f83b03023..faa8e25e7341197a384b26b25411f1fa4ad70db1 100644
--- a/src/agora/utils/indexing.py
+++ b/src/agora/utils/indexing.py
@@ -95,9 +95,7 @@ def validate_lineage(
     else:
         test_mismatch = (
             indices[flat_valid_indices, :].size
-            != np.unique(
-                lineage[flat_valid_lineage, c_index, :].reshape(-1, 2), axis=0
-            ).size
+            != lineage[flat_valid_lineage, c_index, :].size
         )
     if test_mismatch:
         # all unique indices in valid_lineages should be in valid_indices