Thanks for the heads up. :-) Meant to reply sooner but time slips away. I got rid of the infestation and they haven't come back. I lost about a third of the oleander but I have faith it will come back just fine. I trimmed it back and it's showing no more signs of damage. Too bad those things are so destructive. They sure were interesting looking.

conifers are commonly known as evergreen .... i swear a conifer can be dead for months.. before it browns and loses its needles ... ergo .. the brown tissue probably developed over the winter.. probably due to the transport and transplant to your garden ... this fly .. no matter what it is.. hatched a few hours ago ... how can it be anywhere in the equation as to why this is the second or third BHSpruce you are having trouble with???? and how it may be related to tissue that browned months ago ??? are you hoping for better answers over here .. instead of the conifer forum.. where we usually hang out... lol ... good luck on the ID ... knowledge is power.. but i dont think its going to answer the browning problem .... ken PS: boy thats a lot of whitish mulch ... do these things get any protection from the sun any time of the year ???? reflective sun ... in winter .. can be very problematic ... perhaps sunburning the needles.. not only from above.. but from below with that mulch and snow ... i know there is nothing you can do about it.. with the drainage field ... and i suspect that once the plant gets more 'established' ... it will be able to overcome it all ...

Thank you Tucker. In my little gardening book it had a picture of aphids but they were brown. Now I know they come in yellow too! They are only on my one plant. I inspected all my other plants. It should be easy enough to take care of. Well, I'm sure I'll be back with another mystery bug one day! Thanks:-)

Sounds like a box elder bug. It's about time for them, and they often act similar to Asian lady beetles.