Zhongornis (meaning "intermediate bird"[1]) is a genus of primitive maniraptoran dinosaurs that lived during the Early Cretaceous.

Pores in the bones and unfused sutures in the skeleton indicate that the specimen was a juvenile, but the authors believe that it was developed enough to erect a new taxon on the basis of its unique morphological characters.

These features and a cladistic analysis indicate that Zhongornis is the sister group to all pygostylia, meaning that it is intermediate between long-tailed Avialae, like Archaeopteryx, and more advanced taxa, like Confuciusornis.

Previous to this fossil Sanz et al. (1992) suggested that the evolution of the pygostyle may have proceeded as the numerous vertebrae of the tail became very small and highly ankylosed.

[3] Zhongornis suggests that shortening of the tail, and a large reduction in the number of vertebrae, preceded the origin of the pygostyle in the evolution of at least one bird language.