diff --git a/opal/datatype/opal_datatype_clone.c b/opal/datatype/opal_datatype_clone.c
index fa4479982d..59e82bb40c 100644
--- a/opal/datatype/opal_datatype_clone.c
+++ b/opal/datatype/opal_datatype_clone.c
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
  *                         All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2009      Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2009      Oak Ridge National Labs.  All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2019      Research Organization for Information Science
+ *                         and Technology (RIST).  All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -41,6 +43,7 @@ int32_t opal_datatype_clone( const opal_datatype_t * src_type, opal_datatype_t *
             sizeof(opal_datatype_t)-sizeof(opal_object_t) );
 
     dest_type->flags &= (~OPAL_DATATYPE_FLAG_PREDEFINED);
+    dest_type->ptypes = NULL;
     dest_type->desc.desc = temp;
 
     /**
diff --git a/opal/datatype/opal_datatype_create.c b/opal/datatype/opal_datatype_create.c
index 0e6d49b9bd..122521989b 100644
--- a/opal/datatype/opal_datatype_create.c
+++ b/opal/datatype/opal_datatype_create.c
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
  * Copyright (c) 2004-2006 The Regents of the University of California.
  *                         All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2009      Oak Ridge National Labs.  All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2019      Research Organization for Information Science
+ *                         and Technology (RIST).  All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -77,7 +79,7 @@ static void opal_datatype_destruct( opal_datatype_t* datatype )
         }
     }
     /* dont free the ptypes of predefined types (it was not dynamically allocated) */
-    if( (NULL != datatype->ptypes) && (datatype->id >= OPAL_DATATYPE_MAX_PREDEFINED) ) {
+    if( (NULL != datatype->ptypes) && (!opal_datatype_is_predefined(datatype)) ) {
         free(datatype->ptypes);
         datatype->ptypes = NULL;
     }