— ephippial , adj.
/i fip"ee euhm/ , n. , pl. ephippia /i fip"ee euh/ . Zool.
a thick shell, consisting of two chitinous plates, that encloses and protects the winter eggs of a cladoceran.
[ 1835-45; ephíppion, n. use of neut. of ephíppios for putting on a horse, equiv. to ep- EP- + hípp ( os ) horse + -ios adj. suffix ]