Tchadorhynchus

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Tchadorhynchus is a genus of thorn-headed worms (acanthocephalans) that has only one species, Tchadorhynchus quentini. It parasitizes hyenas in Chad. T. quentini is the type species.

Scientists have not published a clear study to confirm its exact position within the family Oligacanthorhynchidae. The genus differs from related ones in features of the adults and embryos, and in the fact that its hosts are hyenas.

Distribution follows where its hyena hosts live; T. quentini has been found in Chad.

Life cycle: An infective form called an acanthor is shed in the hyena’s feces and then eaten by an arthropod intermediate host. The acanthor molts to the acanthella, which penetrates the wall of the intermediate host’s gut and grows. The final larval stage, the cystacanth, forms inside the intermediate host. When the hyena eats the infected intermediate host, the cystacanth attaches to the intestine and develops into an adult worm that reproduces. Eggs pass with the hyena’s feces, and the cycle repeats. There are no known paratenic hosts for Tchadorhynchus.

T. quentini has been found in striped hyenas and spotted hyenas in Chad. No cases of T. quentini infections in humans have been reported in English-language medical literature.