monoxenous development monoxenous development monoxenous development, or monoxeny, characterizes a parasite whose development is restricted to a single host species. a monoxenous life cycle: the amoebozoan protist entamoeba histolytica and its human definitive host. the etymology of the terms monoxeny / monoxenous derives from the two ancient greek words μόνος (mónos), meaning "unique", and ξένος (xénos), meaning "foreign". in a monoxenous life cycle, the parasitic species may be strictly host specific (using only a single host species, such as gregarines) or not (e.g. eimeria, coccidia).