Praying Mantis Egg Case (Ootheca)

Fields, gardens, meadows, and shrubbery attached to plant stems, twigs, or grass stalks

The egg case itself does not eat; emerging nymphs and adults are carnivorous, eating insects such as flies, moths, crickets, and spiders

Female mantises produce a foamy secretion in late summer or autumn that hardens into a protective, papery mass containing dozens to hundreds of eggs, which overwinter and hatch in spring

Harmless to humans; highly beneficial to ecosystems and gardens as natural biological pest control