ootheca

[oh-uh-thee-kuh]

noun

plural

oothecae 

1. a case or capsule containing eggs, as that of certain gastropods and insects.

ootheca

/ ˌəʊəˈθiːkə /

noun

1. a capsule containing eggs that is produced by some insects and molluscs

Other Word Forms

• oothecal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ootheca¹

From New Latin, dating back to 1850–55; oo-, theca

Word History and Origins

Origin of ootheca¹

C19: New Latin, from _oo- + thēkē case

Example Sentences

Behind the female’s bottomless appetite is the extraordinary size of her egg case, or ootheca, a frothy proteinous mass studded with up to 400 eggs that can amount to half her body weight.

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Dr. Brown, of SUNY-Fredonia, and Katherine L. Barry of Macquarie University in Australia showed that cannibalized males sired about 60 more eggs than did non-cannibalized fathers, an increase of 20 percent over the standard ootheca complement of 258 eggs.

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Ampulla: Orthoptera; an extensile sac between head and prothorax used by the young in escaping from oötheca, and later, in molting: Heteroptera; a blister-like enlargement at the middle of the anterior margin of the pro-thorax.

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Egg-case: the case or covering prepared or secreted by an insect to contain or hold together the egg-mass as a whole: see oötheca.

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Oötheca: the covering or case over an egg mass, as in certain Orthoptera: see egg case.

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