11, see text Cuculus is a genus of cuckoos which has representatives in most of the Old World, although the greatest diversity is in tropical southern and southeastern Asia.

The genus Cuculus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.

[6] The hawk-cuckoos are now placed in a separate genus, Hierococcyx, while the pallid cuckoo belongs in Cacomantis.

These birds are of variable size with slender bodies, long tails and strong legs.

Cuculus cuckoos are brood parasites, that is, they lay a single egg in the nests of various passerine hosts.