ootheca

noun — 2 senses

noun

/əʊəˈθiːkə/

Etymology From oo- (“egg-”) + theca (“sheath”).

An egg case of any of the orthopteroid insects (such as cockroaches and mantids).

Since the founding of the colony it had been a tradition to unload oothecae – egg sacs – in the cabinets so the younglings would be near the principal food stocks.1994, Daniel Evan Weiss, The Roaches Have No King, →ISBN, page 4:

Biology, Botany, Natural sciences The theca or sporangium of ferns.

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.