alien creatures

I was cutting some small tree limbs here in Central Florida.   I noticed some white specks on the tree limb.



My initial impression was that perhaps it was some sort of scale.   I went and got my loupe to put in front of my camera lens to get a close-up of these creatures.



And this was my result.   What kind of a creature was this?   I have never seen anything like it.   What is that line going down them.   And on some of them there is what appears to be tentacles around a primitive type round mouth.   Is my imagination running a little bit wild there?

Take a closer look.   See it at the bottom of the creature on the right?   What do you think?

I got out my trusty insect identification books.   And don't laugh, they have the common insects and I have managed to identify around 90% of the insects that I have found by using them.



 Have a good day and if you have any ideas at all as to what these mysterious creatures might be please let me know in the comment section.   I would appreciate it.     Lew