Does anyone know what this is? I have never seen this before and I don't want to open it to find out in case I kill it in the process.

Thanks,
Kris

pretty sure that's a praying mantis egg case......many many beneficial mantises should hatch out of it in warming weather, if they haven't already.....provided it's left undisturbed....

Thanks for the response. I get lots of spider egg sac in my yard but I've never seen a prey mantis egg sac in my life.

Diversity is slowly coming back and I even notice a few dragonfly larvae in my small pond I installed in late fall.

Kris

Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina)
A small native species of beneficial insect

Nice Find!

I have stumbled across a few of those in my days and never knew what they were either. Thanks for the responses, now i know something.

J