diff --git a/libsrc/core/mpi_wrapper.hpp b/libsrc/core/mpi_wrapper.hpp
index 88e15af5..1beda265 100644
--- a/libsrc/core/mpi_wrapper.hpp
+++ b/libsrc/core/mpi_wrapper.hpp
@@ -486,6 +486,9 @@ namespace ngcore
   inline void MPI_Type_contiguous ( int, MPI_Datatype, MPI_Datatype*) { ; } 
   inline void MPI_Type_commit ( MPI_Datatype * ) { ; }
 
+  template <class T> struct MPI_typetrait  {
+    static MPI_Datatype MPIType () { return -1; } };    
+  };
   template <class T, class T2=void>
   inline MPI_Datatype GetMPIType () { return -1; }