diff --git a/src/org/jgroups/protocols/Discovery.java b/src/org/jgroups/protocols/Discovery.java
index 1076f35b8b..e26eb1e6a3 100644
--- a/src/org/jgroups/protocols/Discovery.java
+++ b/src/org/jgroups/protocols/Discovery.java
@@ -636,6 +636,10 @@ protected static List<PingData> deserialize(final byte[] data, int offset, int l
         return list;
     }
 
+    public static ByteArray marshal(PingData data) {
+       return marshal(new PingData[] {data});
+    }
+
     public static ByteArray marshal(PingData ... list) {
         return marshal(List.of(list));
     }