'' is the name given to a genus of basal Bird from the Early Cretaceous . Like later birds, it had developed a Beak , but it had a long tail, unlike Modern Birds . Since teeth were still present in some more advanced short-tailed birds, ''Jixiangornis'' seems to have evolved its beak independently of modern birds. The long forelimb (131% of hindlimb length) indicates a flying bird. ''Jixiangornis'' is currently known only from the type specimen, a complete skeleton. The fossil was found in the Yixian Formation near Beipiao City , western Liaoning , China .
The type species, ''J. orientalis'', was described in November 2002 by Ji Qiang, Ji Shuan, Zhang Hongbin, You Hailu, Zhang Jianping, Wang Lixia, Yuan Chongxi and Ji Xinxin. Ji ''et al''. considered ''Jixiangornis'' capable of stonger flight than either '' Archaeopteryx '' or '' Shenzhouraptor ''. Their phylogenetic tree shows ''Jixiangornis'' forming a clade ("Euavialae" of Ji ''et al''.) with short-tailed birds that excludes ''Archaeopteryx'' and ''Shenzhouraptor''.
An alternative view was presented by Zhou Zong-He and Zhang Fu-Cheng in 2006 . They classified both ''Jixiangornis'' and ''Shenzhouraptor'' as junior synonyms of '' Jeholornis Prima '', meaning that ''Jixiangornis'' cannot be more advanced than ''Shenzhouraptor''. Zhou and Zhang did not discuss the proposed synonomy of these taxa in detail.
- Ji Q., Ji S., Zhang H., You H., Zhang J., Wang L., Yuan C. & Ji X. (2002): A new avialan bird - ''Jixiangornis orientalis'' gen. et sp. nov. - from the Lower Cretaceous of Western Liaoning, NE China. ''Journal of Nanjing University (Natural Sciences)'' (6): 723-736.
- Zhou Z.-H. & Zhang F.-C. (2006): Mesozoic birds of China - A synoptic review. ''Vertebrata Palasiatica'' (1): 74-98. PDF fulltext
- http://www.dinodata.net/Newdesuk03.htm
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