Insect and Spider Identification: CLOSED: Pod like thing on my passionvine and vitex leaves, 1 by thea611

thea611 wrote:
I found one of these things glued to the back of a leaf of my passionvine, and one on a vitex leaf too. I touched one of them and it kind of oozed a sticky bit of liquid. As I was taking the photo of the one on my passionvine, I also noticed a little beetle, whose photo I'll also post. Anyone know who the pod belongs to, or if the pod and the beetle are related? Thanks! I grow the passionvine for the Gulf Fritillary butterfly and don't welcome any more predators than I've got (wasps, anoles, etc.) so want to get rid of this critter if he's a bad guy.