diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/deps.yml b/changelogs/fragments/deps.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2ad1b7e2c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/deps.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - "deps module utils - do not fail when dependency cannot be found (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/6479)."
diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/deps.py b/plugins/module_utils/deps.py
index f6f4082a36..a2413d1952 100644
--- a/plugins/module_utils/deps.py
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/deps.py
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ def _select_names(spec):
             for d in spec_split:
                 dep_names.remove(d)
         else:
-            spec_split = spec[1:].split(":")
+            spec_split = spec.split(":")
             dep_names = []
             for d in spec_split:
                 _deps[d]  # ensure it exists