This could represent a serious risk for the environment if its an invasive species that could cause damage to domestic plant life, animals and / or humans. Importations such as this could carry heavy fines and / or jail time regardless of if it accidental or not. The package could have eggs inside. This is the reason many countries will not accept wood shipping pallets - because insects lay eggs inside the wood and the next thing know your entire nation's food crops are failing due to a insect infestation.
I don't order items from China, but if this had happened to me I'd immediately place the entire package and contents in one or more sealed bags and inside a plastic tub as insects can eat through plastic bags. Then turn the entire thing over to the your state's DNR for inspection just to be safe. Get receipt so you get your item back. Probably nothing bad will happen but what if the package contained eggs of a invasive species which then spread into environment and then led to major crop failures. Would you want to be the person responsible for that? I can see previously harvested fields of crops as I type this.
A more seriously thing to think about is that the cheap packages from China that eBay engineered and pioneered, which were then copied by other firms, represent a security risk to the U.S. Inspections are not anywhere near being adequate. They could easily be a perfect tool for terrorists wanting to cause harm with chemical and biological agents as well as invasive species or plants. Such packages could easily contain plant spores that you cannot see with your naked eye. A single small 1st Class international package could kill many people.
