diff --git a/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/topology/test_itp.py b/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/topology/test_itp.py
index 81a73cd331..8711ac072a 100644
--- a/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/topology/test_itp.py
+++ b/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/topology/test_itp.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 from numpy.testing import assert_allclose, assert_equal
 
+from MDAnalysisTests.util import no_deprecated_call
 from MDAnalysisTests.topology.base import ParserBase
 from MDAnalysisTests.datafiles import (
     ITP,  # GROMACS itp
@@ -490,6 +491,8 @@ def test_missing_elements_no_attribute():
         u = mda.Universe(ITP_atomtypes)
     with pytest.raises(AttributeError):
         _ = u.atoms.elements
+    with no_deprecated_call():
+        mda.Universe(ITP_atomtypes)
 
 
 def test_elements_deprecation_warning():
diff --git a/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/util.py b/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/util.py
index 549a9f418a..88631bdcff 100644
--- a/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/util.py
+++ b/testsuite/MDAnalysisTests/util.py
@@ -233,6 +233,11 @@ def _warn(self, message, category=None, *args, **kwargs):
         if isinstance(message, Warning):
             self._captured_categories.append(message.__class__)
         else:
+            # as follows Python documentation at
+            # https://docs.python.org/3/library/warnings.html#warnings.warn
+            # if category is None, the default UserWarning is used
+            if category is None:
+                category = UserWarning
             self._captured_categories.append(category)
 
     def __exit__(self, exc_type, exc_val, exc_tb):