Insect and Spider Identification: Very strange bug on Cotinus tree. What is it?, 5 by jtuck2

jtuck2 wrote:
About a month ago I purchased what I believe to be a Cotinus coggygnia tree, also known as a purple smoke tree. Mine looks like it is Royal purple. I transplanted it into a different container about 2 weeks ago. It's about 6 feet tall and not very full. I live in Southern California.

The other day I spotted this very strange looking creature on the branches of the tree--mostly on the thicker branches that are about 1/2 inch in diameter, but some were on the smaller branches that the leaves are attached to (about 1/16th inch diameter branches). The bugs come in all sizes from pinhead size to more than 1/4 inch long.

They are very stationary and they are attached to the plant with suckers (I can't see them, but when I pull them off, they stick).

My husband took a bunch of views. But you see them from the top when they are on the tree (I picked them all off--should have taken a photo). The ants seem to be feeding off of these similarly to the way they feed off of aphids. But you can't see any sticky substance around them. They appear to be dry.

It looks like they have 6 or 8 black legs (you can see them in the 4th photo of the underside front. The white things poking out from the underside view look like their legs when you view them from the top, but I believe the black things are really the legs. Perhaps that is how they are hanging on to the tree.

If they were much bigger, you could put them on your shoulder and they would look like epalets. The white part in the back is perfectly formed...it looks like a shell with those perfect ridges, but it actually looks softer--more like a white brush when it's on the tree. The older ones seem to have a lot of whiskers. The younger ones do not.

Photos: #1 is a closeup of the side. #2 is a side view (upside down), #3 is the underside, #4 is the front of the underside of the bug. #5 is a side view, again upside down.

The colored section of the insect is on top and is the front part of the bug. It looks darker brown in person. The white part is the back.

I am totally stumped! Thanks for your help!

This message was edited Aug 11, 2013 6:36 PM