Pests on hydrangea - ID please

[annew]

My aunt has discovered a lot of these animals on her hydrangea leaves. They look a bit like a cross between scale insects and wooly aphids. Anybody know what they are?

[Ezeiza]

Ann, they ARE mealybugs.

[Giles]

Pulvinaria hydrangeae.

[Maggi Young]

They're horrible, that's what they are! I think Giles is correct, though I did wonder about Cottony Cushion Scale insects.....Icerya purchasi

http://bugguide.net/node/view/5748 for some photos. Yuck!  

[annew]

You guys are GOOD!
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=557
Scary little beasties, aren't they? Many thanks, folks.

[Maggi Young]

Scary little beasties, aren't they? Many thanks, folks.

Not so little by the looks of your photo, Anne. 

[Ezeiza]

Maggi and Anne, too lazy to start another thread but speaking of niceties, one year ago I saw sweet violet leaves that looked as having a cordon around the edge. If you broke this cordon lots of tiny white maggots started felling. Looked like a positive horror, yet could not find any reference to them.

[Maggi Young]

That's sounds nasty, Alberto. I have no idea what that could be... but I don't think lots of tiny maggots are ever "good" 
Maybe Anthony Darby or one of the other Bug Lovers will be able to suggest what these horrors might be.

[Maggi Young]

Hang on, may have come up with something....
Sweet Violet leaf gall   Dasineura odoratae
http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk/galls%20p2.html
"Some confusion currently exists over definitive identification of gall causers within the Viola family of plants but the scientific name reflects that this is one of the Dasineura group of gall flies which infects the Viola odorata plant in the manner shown.

The small gall fly larva causes the leaf edge to curl upwards and roll over to thicken and form a protective shelter. The underside of the leaf which is normally only slightly pubescent at best, becomes very 'furry' and, considering the normal delicate leaf structure, presents a surprisingly firm refuge for the developing larva."

Sounds a  likely candidate, and there are web photos showing the sort of cordon around leaves that Alberto describes.

[Ezeiza]

That was superfast, Maggi! I do love this forum! The bad news is that the lady told me the pest originally appeared in Buzzy Lizzies she brought from a nursery. She thought the pest was killed along with the plants) only to finally find it in the violets.

Many thanks.

[Maggi Young]

There are a number of species that attack a range of plants in a similar manner... see this example on a n Urtica from a German site  http://people.zeelandnet.nl/grada/gallen/Dasineura%20dioicae.shtml
I suspect that many of these will not be species specific but opportunistic.

[Lesley Cox]

Maybe Anthony Darby or one of the other Bug Lovers will be able to suggest what these horrors might be.

You wouldn't want to spoonerize here Maggi.

[Ezeiza]

In this case it is strikingly visible.With the violets I mentioned the lesions remained green and only apparent within short distance. Thanks for showing this.