diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 1425578..5115938 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -462,6 +462,7 @@ src/include/h5core/h5t_inquiry.h -text
 src/include/h5core/h5t_map.h -text
 src/include/h5core/h5t_openclose.h -text
 src/include/h5core/h5t_readwrite.h -text
+src/include/h5core/h5t_ref_elements.h -text
 src/include/h5core/h5t_retrieve.h -text
 src/include/h5core/h5t_storemesh.h -text
 src/include/h5core/h5t_tags.h -text
diff --git a/src/include/h5core/h5t_ref_elements.h b/src/include/h5core/h5t_ref_elements.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c2e7f04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/include/h5core/h5t_ref_elements.h
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#ifndef __H5T_REFERENCE_ELEMENTS_H
+#define __H5T_REFERENCE_ELEMENTS_H
+
+#define H5T_MAX_DIM 3
+#define H5T_MAX_FACES 6		// edges in tetrahedron
+#define H5T_MAX_VERTICES 4	// tetrahedron
+
+typedef struct {
+	int dim;
+	int num_faces[H5T_MAX_DIM+1];
+	int num_vertices_of_face[H5T_MAX_DIM+1][H5T_MAX_FACES];
+	int map[H5T_MAX_DIM+1][H5T_MAX_FACES][H5T_MAX_VERTICES];
+	h5_float64_t coords[H5T_MAX_VERTICES][H5T_MAX_DIM];
+} h5t_ref_element_t;
+
+extern const h5t_ref_element_t h5t_tet_ref_element;
+extern const h5t_ref_element_t h5t_tri_ref_element;
+
+#endif