def create_np_dtype(py_obj, h_group, name, **kwargs):
    """ dumps an numpy dtype object to h5py file

    Parameters
    ----------
    py_obj (numpy.dtype):
        python object to dump; should be a numpy dtype, e.g.  numpy.float16

    h_group (h5.File.group):
        group to dump data into.

    name (str):
        the name of the resulting dataset

    kwargs (dict):
        keyword arguments to be passed to create_dataset function

    Returns
    -------
    tuple containing h5py.Dataset and empty list of subitems
    """
    d = h_group.create_dataset(name, data=bytearray(py_obj.str,"ascii"), **kwargs)
    return d,()