Caution As You Bring In The Christmas Tree

As you bring in the Christmas tree, a word of caution. This is the egg case of a Chinese Praying Mantis (Tenodera sinensis). Check your tree for it before you bring in the potential to have up to 400 tiny Chinese Praying Mantises wandering around in your house. If you happen to discover the egg case after the tree is set up and being decorated, clip the egg case off and destroy it. Chinese Praying Mantises eat many good insects as well as our native Carolina Praying Mantis (Stagmomantis carolina).

This egg case, called an ootheca, is attached to a beautiful red stem of a Blueberry Bush (Cyanococcus). It’s a tiny bit smaller than a ping pong ball.

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Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.