It is distinguished by its smaller size, less prominent bill, pale shaft streaks on the feathers of the head and back.

The lesser coucal was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae.

[3] The lesser coucal is now one of around 30 species placed in the genus Centropus that was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger.

[11] The calls of the lesser coucal include a series of low double "whoot-woot" or "kurook" notes that increase in tempo and descend in pitch.

[9] The species is widely distributed west from the Indian subcontinent (but not in Sri Lanka[11] despite an old report of a skin of doubtful provenance[12]) extending east across Southeast Asia.

Some other subspecies like philippinensis from the Philippines and chamnongi from Thailand[13] are not always recognized and are thought to form either variants or intermediate plumages.

[11] The lesser coucal is found singly or in pairs low in the undergrowth in marshy or grassy areas adjoining forest.