The genus Coccyzus was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot to accommodate a single species, Comte de Buffon's "Coucou de la Caroline", now the yellow-billed cuckoo.
In 1816, the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot introduced the genus Coccyzus to house a single species, Comte de Buffon's Yellow-billed Cuckoo.