diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index ec9485804..9d2989ac9 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -283,3 +283,17 @@
     
     taxa_tab
 }
+
+################################################################################
+# internal wrappers for agglomerateByRank/mergeRows
+.merge_features <- function(x, merge.by, ...) {
+    # Check if merge.by parameter belongs to taxonomyRanks
+    if (is.character(merge.by) && length(merge.by) == 1 && merge.by %in% taxonomyRanks(x)) {
+         #Merge using agglomerateByRank
+        x <- agglomerateByRank(x, rank = merge.by, ...)
+    } else {
+        # Merge using mergeRows
+        x <- mergeRows(x, f = merge.by, ...)
+    }
+    return(x)
+}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-2merge.R b/tests/testthat/test-2merge.R
index 90a0c5a3b..c13b82a22 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-2merge.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-2merge.R
@@ -102,11 +102,14 @@ test_that("merge", {
     merged  <- mergeRows(tse, f=rowData(tse)$group2, mergeTree=TRUE)
     merged2 <- mergeRows(tse, f = rowData(tse)$group2, mergeTree = FALSE)
     merged3 <- mergeRows(esophagus, f = rowData(esophagus)$group2, mergeTree = TRUE)
+    merged4 <- .merge_features(tse, merge.by = rowData(tse)$group2, mergeTree = TRUE)
+    merged5 <- mergeRows(tse, f = rowData(tse)$group2, mergeTree = TRUE)
     expect_equal( rowLinks(merged)$whichTree, 
                   rowLinks(merged2)$whichTree )
     expect_false( all(rowLinks(merged) == rowLinks(merged2)) )
     expect_equal(rowTree(tse), rowTree(merged2))
     expect_equal(rowTree(merged), rowTree(merged3))
+    expect_equal(merged4, merged5)
     
     # Both datasets have group variable
     merged <- mergeRows(tse, f = rowData(tse)$group, mergeTree = TRUE)
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-3agglomerate.R b/tests/testthat/test-3agglomerate.R
index df1437ce3..e3710a8e1 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-3agglomerate.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-3agglomerate.R
@@ -51,6 +51,10 @@ test_that("agglomerate", {
     expect_equal(rowData(actual)$Family,c("c",NA,"d","e","f","g","h",NA))
     actual <- agglomerateByRank(xtse,"Phylum")
     expect_equivalent(rowData(actual),rowData(actual_phylum))
+    #
+    actual1 <- agglomerateByRank(xtse,"Family")
+    actual2 <- .merge_features(xtse, merge.by = "Family")
+    expect_equal(actual1, actual2)
 
     # Only one rank available in the object -
     # the same dimensionality is retained