diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/BitMapExtractor.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/BitMapExtractor.java
index 29aeb80c6..3fc385359 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/BitMapExtractor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/BitMapExtractor.java
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ public interface BitMapExtractor {
     static BitMapExtractor fromIndexExtractor(final IndexExtractor extractor, final int numberOfBits) {
         Objects.requireNonNull(extractor, "extractor");
 
-        final long[] result = new long[BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(numberOfBits)];
+        final long[] result = BitMaps.newBitMap(numberOfBits);
         extractor.processIndices(i -> {
             BitMaps.set(result, i);
             return true;
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/BitMaps.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/BitMaps.java
index d89894706..2428ccef4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/BitMaps.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/BitMaps.java
@@ -111,6 +111,28 @@ public class BitMaps {
         return (int) (remainder >= divisor ? remainder - divisor : remainder);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Creates a new bitmap for the number of bit maps (longs) required for the numberOfBits parameter.
+     *
+     * <p><em>If the input is negative the behavior is not defined.</em></p>
+     *
+     * @param numberOfBits the number of bits to store in the array of bit maps.
+     * @return a new bitmap.
+     */
+    static long[] newBitMap(final int numberOfBits) {
+        return new long[numberOfBitMaps(numberOfBits)];
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new bitmap for given shape parameter.
+     *
+     * @param shape the shape.
+     * @return a new bitmap.
+     */
+    static long[] newBitMap(final Shape shape) {
+        return newBitMap(shape.getNumberOfBits());
+    }
+
     /**
      * Calculates the number of bit maps (longs) required for the numberOfBits parameter.
      *
@@ -123,6 +145,16 @@ public class BitMaps {
         return (numberOfBits - 1 >> DIVIDE_BY_64) + 1;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Calculates the number of bit maps (longs) required for the shape parameter.
+     *
+     * @param shape the shape.
+     * @return the number of bit maps necessary.
+     */
+    static int numberOfBitMaps(final Shape shape) {
+        return numberOfBitMaps(shape.getNumberOfBits());
+    }
+
     /**
      * Sets the bit in the bit maps.
      * <p><em>Does not perform range checking</em></p>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/IndexFilter.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/IndexFilter.java
index 300831b2c..4af7b5a34 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/IndexFilter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/IndexFilter.java
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ public final class IndexFilter {
          * @param shape The shape that is being generated.
          */
         BitMapTracker(final Shape shape) {
-            bits = new long[BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(shape.getNumberOfBits())];
+            bits = BitMaps.newBitMap(shape);
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ public final class IndexFilter {
     private IndexFilter(final Shape shape, final IntPredicate consumer) {
         this.size = shape.getNumberOfBits();
         this.consumer = consumer;
-        if (BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(shape.getNumberOfBits()) * Long.BYTES < (long) shape.getNumberOfHashFunctions()
+        if (BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(shape) * Long.BYTES < (long) shape.getNumberOfHashFunctions()
                 * Integer.BYTES) {
             this.tracker = new BitMapTracker(shape);
         } else {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/Shape.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/Shape.java
index a0faaddf1..5ce28a79e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/Shape.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/Shape.java
@@ -483,7 +483,7 @@ public final class Shape {
          * (number of indexes) is less than or equal to 2*number of bit maps the
          * cardinality is sparse within the shape.
          */
-        return cardinality <= BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(getNumberOfBits()) * 2;
+        return cardinality <= BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(this) * 2;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/SimpleBloomFilter.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/SimpleBloomFilter.java
index 2a0b1527f..1b646d4a5 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/SimpleBloomFilter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/SimpleBloomFilter.java
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ public final class SimpleBloomFilter implements BloomFilter {
     public SimpleBloomFilter(final Shape shape) {
         Objects.requireNonNull(shape, "shape");
         this.shape = shape;
-        this.bitMap = new long[BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(shape.getNumberOfBits())];
+        this.bitMap = BitMaps.newBitMap(shape);
         this.cardinality = 0;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/SparseBloomFilter.java b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/SparseBloomFilter.java
index 746d86089..e53a5a2ff 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/SparseBloomFilter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/SparseBloomFilter.java
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ public final class SparseBloomFilter implements BloomFilter {
 
     @Override
     public long[] asBitMapArray() {
-        final long[] result = new long[BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(shape.getNumberOfBits())];
+        final long[] result = BitMaps.newBitMap(shape);
         for (final int i : indices) {
             BitMaps.set(result, i);
         }
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ public final class SparseBloomFilter implements BloomFilter {
     @Override
     public boolean processBitMaps(final LongPredicate consumer) {
         Objects.requireNonNull(consumer, "consumer");
-        final int limit = BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(shape.getNumberOfBits());
+        final int limit = BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(shape);
         /*
          * because our indices are always in order we can shorten the time necessary to
          * create the longs for the consumer
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/AbstractBloomFilterTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/AbstractBloomFilterTest.java
index 93646935a..0aee678e3 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/AbstractBloomFilterTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/AbstractBloomFilterTest.java
@@ -152,14 +152,14 @@ public abstract class AbstractBloomFilterTest<T extends BloomFilter> {
             idx[0]++;
             return true;
         });
-        assertEquals(BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(getTestShape().getNumberOfBits()), idx[0]);
+        assertEquals(BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(getTestShape()), idx[0]);
 
         idx[0] = 0;
         createEmptyFilter(getTestShape()).processBitMaps(i -> {
             idx[0]++;
             return true;
         });
-        assertEquals(BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(getTestShape().getNumberOfBits()), idx[0]);
+        assertEquals(BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(getTestShape()), idx[0]);
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractBloomFilterTest<T extends BloomFilter> {
 
     @Test
     public void testMergeWithBitMapExtractor() {
-        final int bitMapCount = BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(getTestShape().getNumberOfBits());
+        final int bitMapCount = BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(getTestShape());
         for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
             final long[] values = new long[bitMapCount];
             for (final int idx : DefaultIndexExtractorTest.generateIntArray(getTestShape().getNumberOfHashFunctions(), getTestShape().getNumberOfBits())) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/DefaultIndexExtractorTest.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/DefaultIndexExtractorTest.java
index 0d58fbcda..4354d2de5 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/DefaultIndexExtractorTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/commons/collections4/bloomfilter/DefaultIndexExtractorTest.java
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ public class DefaultIndexExtractorTest extends AbstractIndexExtractorTest {
     public void testFromBitMapExtractor() {
         for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
             final int[] expected = generateIntArray(7, 256);
-            final long[] bits = new long[BitMaps.numberOfBitMaps(256)];
+            final long[] bits = BitMaps.newBitMap(256);
             for (final int bitIndex : expected) {
                 BitMaps.set(bits, bitIndex);
             }