diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MetaTableAccessor.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MetaTableAccessor.java
index 01ccd2bca5f3..46aed441c8d9 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MetaTableAccessor.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/MetaTableAccessor.java
@@ -636,8 +636,15 @@ public static Put makePutFromRegionInfo(RegionInfo regionInfo) throws IOExceptio
    * @throws IllegalArgumentException when the provided RegionInfo is not the default replica.
    */
   public static Put makePutFromRegionInfo(RegionInfo regionInfo, long ts) throws IOException {
-    return addRegionInfo(new Put(CatalogFamilyFormat.getMetaKeyForRegion(regionInfo), ts),
-      regionInfo);
+    byte[] metaKeyForRegion = CatalogFamilyFormat.getMetaKeyForRegion(regionInfo);
+    try {
+      Put put = new Put(metaKeyForRegion, ts);
+      return addRegionInfo(put, regionInfo);
+    } catch(IllegalArgumentException ex) {
+      LOG.error("Got exception while creating put for regioninfo {}."
+        + "meta key for regioninfo is {}", regionInfo.getRegionNameAsString(), metaKeyForRegion);
+      throw ex;
+    }
   }
 
   /**