Dhole (fictional) - Definition

Dholes are said to be gigantic worm-like burrowing horrors, in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. They are not native to the Earth, and none seem to have brought here for more than brief periods, fortunately, for they seem to have riddled and left waste several other worlds. They dislike light, though it does not visibly harm them. They are only rarely seen in daylight, and then only on planets that they have thoroughly conquered.

"Below him the ground was festering with gigantic Dholes, and even as he looked, one reared up several hundred feet and leveled a bleched, viscous end at him." - H.P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffman Price, "Through the Gate of the Silver Key."

"Now Carter knew from a certain source that he was in the vale of Pnoth, where crawl and burrow the enourmous Dholes; but he did not know what to expect, because no one has ever seen a Dhole, or even guessed what such a thing may be like. Dholes are known only by dim rumour from the rustling they make amongst mountains of bones and the slimy touch they have when they wriggle past one. They cannot be seen because they creep only in the dark." - H.P. Lovecraft, "The Dream-Quest for Unknown Kadath."

Some unknown relation between Dholes and Chthonians may exist.