diff --git a/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx b/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx
index 208975f970..e21b46e820 100644
--- a/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx
+++ b/dpctl/tensor/_usmarray.pyx
@@ -130,12 +130,17 @@ cdef class usm_ndarray:
         cdef Py_ssize_t _offset = offset
         cdef Py_ssize_t ary_min_displacement = 0
         cdef Py_ssize_t ary_max_displacement = 0
+        cdef Py_ssize_t tmp = 0
         cdef char * data_ptr = NULL
 
         self._reset()
         if (not isinstance(shape, (list, tuple))
                 and not hasattr(shape, 'tolist')):
-            raise TypeError("Argument shape must be a list of a tuple.")
+            try:
+                tmp = <Py_ssize_t> shape
+                shape = [shape, ]
+            except Exception:
+                raise TypeError("Argument shape must be a list or a tuple.")
         nd = len(shape)
         typenum = dtype_to_typenum(dtype)
         itemsize = type_bytesize(typenum)
diff --git a/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py b/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py
index 6d565d8c88..e1cd9e9795 100644
--- a/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py
+++ b/dpctl/tests/test_usm_ndarray_ctor.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@
         (4, 5),
         (2, 5, 2),
         (2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2),
+        5,
     ],
 )
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("usm_type", ["shared", "host", "device"])
@@ -74,6 +75,7 @@ def test_allocate_usm_ndarray(shape, usm_type):
         "f8",
         "c8",
         "c16",
+        b"float32",
         np.dtype("d"),
         np.half,
     ],
@@ -81,6 +83,15 @@ def test_allocate_usm_ndarray(shape, usm_type):
 def test_dtypes(dtype):
     Xusm = dpt.usm_ndarray((1,), dtype=dtype)
     assert Xusm.itemsize == np.dtype(dtype).itemsize
+    expected_fmt = (np.dtype(dtype).str)[1:]
+    actual_fmt = Xusm.__sycl_usm_array_interface__["typestr"][1:]
+    assert expected_fmt == actual_fmt
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("dtype", ["", ">f4", "invalid", 123])
+def test_dtypes_invalid(dtype):
+    with pytest.raises((TypeError, ValueError)):
+        dpt.usm_ndarray((1,), dtype=dtype)
 
 
 def test_properties():