Rewasaurus

Rewasaurus; Temporal range: Upper Triassic, Carnian–Norian PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Clade:	Dinosauria (?)
Clade:	†Ornithischia (?)
Family:	†Silesauridae
Clade:	†Sulcimentisauria
Genus:	†Rewasaurus; Sen et al., 2026
Species:	†R. minori
Binomial name
	†Rewasaurus minori; Sen et al., 2026

Rewasaurus (lit. 'Rewa lizard') is an extinct genus of dinosauromorph allied with taxa traditionally regarded as silesaurids (possibly the earliest ornithischian dinosaurs). It is known from the Late Triassic (Carnian to Norian age) Tiki Formation of India. The genus contains a single species, Rewasaurus minori, known from a partial skull.

Discovery and naming

The Rewasaurus minori holotype material consists of an incomplete skull and articulated mandible (lower jaw). It is permanently accessioned at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in West Bengal, India, under the code IITKGPR1191. Two isolated partial femora (thighbones) were also collected from the same formation, but a different locality; while they preserve silesaurid features, they cannot be confidently referred to Rewasaurus due to the lack of overlapping remains.

In 2026, Sulagna Sen and colleagues described Rewasaurus as a new genus and species of silesaurid dinosauriform. The generic name, Rewasaurus, refers to the Rewa Basin in Madhya Pradesh, India, from which the fossils were recovered. The specific name, minori, comes from the Latin word minor, meaning "small."

Classification

To test the relationships of Rewasaurus, Sen et al. (2026) inserted it into the phylogenetic matrices of Dalle-Laste et al. (2025) and Müller (2025). The Dalle-Laste et al. (2025) matrix recovered all silesaurids as a monophyletic clade, although its precise internal relationships could not be determined as many were recovered in an unresolved polytomy. The Müller (2025) matrix recovered silesaurids as a paraphyletic grade leading to traditional ornithischians, with Rewasaurus as a member of the Sulcimentisauria and the sister taxon to Diodorus. A cladogram adapted from the latter analysis is shown below: