classnotfoundexception - VerifyError from com.google.android.gms:play-services:4.4.52 dependency -

after including com.google.android.gms:play-services:4.4.52 dependency (for google+-login within android app) have problem running test cases robotium , junit on jenkins. seems no matter test case, test fails verifyerror (i've observed classnotfound- , noclassdeffounderror's afterwards). stacktraces:

verifyerror:

java.lang.verifyerror: org/catrobat/catroid/uitest/content/brick/setsizetobricktest @ java.lang.class.getdeclaredconstructors(native method) @ java.lang.class.getconstructors(class.java:508) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testgrouping$testcasepredicate.hasvalidconstructor(testgrouping.java:228) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testgrouping$testcasepredicate.apply(testgrouping.java:217) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testgrouping$testcasepredicate.apply(testgrouping.java:213) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testgrouping.select(testgrouping.java:172) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testgrouping.selecttestclasses(testgrouping.java:162) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testgrouping.testcaseclassesinpackage(testgrouping.java:156) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testgrouping.addpackagesrecursive(testgrouping.java:117) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testsuitebuilder.includepackages(testsuitebuilder.java:102) @ android.test.instrumentationtestrunner.oncreate(instrumentationtestrunner.java:358) @ pl.polidea.instrumentation.polideainstrumentationtestrunner.oncreate(polideainstrumentationtestrunner.java:432) @ android.app.activitythread.handlebindapplication(activitythread.java:4335) @ android.app.activitythread.access$1500(activitythread.java:135) @ android.app.activitythread$h.handlemessage(activitythread.java:1256) @ android.os.handler.dispatchmessage(handler.java:102) @ android.os.looper.loop(looper.java:136) @ android.app.activitythread.main(activitythread.java:5017) @ java.lang.reflect.method.invokenative(native method) @ java.lang.reflect.method.invoke(method.java:515) @ com.android.internal.os.zygoteinit$methodandargscaller.run(zygoteinit.java:779) @ com.android.internal.os.zygoteinit.main(zygoteinit.java:595) @ dalvik.system.nativestart.main(native method)

classnotfoundexception:

java.lang.classnotfoundexception: org.catrobat.catroid.test.utils.simulatedsensormanager @ java.lang.class.classforname(native method) @ java.lang.class.forname(class.java:251) @ android.test.classpathpackageinfosource.createpackageinfo(classpathpackageinfosource.java:88) @ android.test.classpathpackageinfosource.access$000(classpathpackageinfosource.java:39) @ android.test.classpathpackageinfosource$1.load(classpathpackageinfosource.java:50) @ android.test.classpathpackageinfosource$1.load(classpathpackageinfosource.java:47) @ android.test.simplecache.get(simplecache.java:31) @ android.test.classpathpackageinfosource.getpackageinfo(classpathpackageinfosource.java:72) @ android.test.classpathpackageinfo.getsubpackages(classpathpackageinfo.java:48) @ android.test.classpathpackageinfo.addtoplevelclassesto(classpathpackageinfo.java:61) @ android.test.classpathpackageinfo.gettoplevelclassesrecursive(classpathpackageinfo.java:55) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testgrouping.testcaseclassesinpackage(testgrouping.java:156) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testgrouping.addpackagesrecursive(testgrouping.java:117) @ android.test.suitebuilder.testsuitebuilder.includepackages(testsuitebuilder.java:102) @ android.test.instrumentationtestrunner.oncreate(instrumentationtestrunner.java:358) @ pl.polidea.instrumentation.polideainstrumentationtestrunner.oncreate(polideainstrumentationtestrunner.java:432) @ android.app.activitythread.handlebindapplication(activitythread.java:4335) @ android.app.activitythread.access$1500(activitythread.java:135) @ android.app.activitythread$h.handlemessage(activitythread.java:1256) @ android.os.handler.dispatchmessage(handler.java:102) @ android.os.looper.loop(looper.java:136) @ android.app.activitythread.main(activitythread.java:5017) @ java.lang.reflect.method.invokenative(native method) @ java.lang.reflect.method.invoke(method.java:515) @ com.android.internal.os.zygoteinit$methodandargscaller.run(zygoteinit.java:779) @ com.android.internal.os.zygoteinit.main(zygoteinit.java:595) @ dalvik.system.nativestart.main(native method) caused by: java.lang.noclassdeffounderror: org/catrobat/catroid/test/utils/simulatedsensormanager ... 27 more caused by: java.lang.classnotfoundexception: didn't find class "org.catrobat.catroid.test.utils.simulatedsensormanager" on path: dexpathlist[[zip file "/system/framework/android.test.runner.jar", zip file "/data/app/org.catrobat.catroid.test-1.apk", zip file "/data/app/org.catrobat.catroid-1.apk"],nativelibrarydirectories=[/data/app-lib/org.catrobat.catroid.test-1, /data/app-lib/org.catrobat.catroid-1, /vendor/lib, /system/lib]]

the (relevant part of) build.gradle file:

buildscript {     repositories {         mavencentral()         jcenter()     }     dependencies {         classpath 'com.android.tools.build:gradle:1.0.1'         classpath 'com.jakewharton.sdkmanager:gradle-plugin:0.12.+'         // classpath 'com.google.gms:google-services:1.3.0-beta1'     } }  repositories {     mavencentral() }  apply plugin: 'android-sdk-manager' apply plugin: 'com.android.application' apply plugin: 'checkstyle' apply plugin: 'pmd' apply from: 'gradle/adb_tasks.gradle' apply from: 'gradle/code_quality_tasks.gradle' apply from: 'gradle/intellij_config_tasks.gradle' //apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'  check.dependson 'checkstyle' check.dependson 'pmd'  android { compilesdkversion 23     buildtoolsversion '23.0.0'     defaultconfig {         minsdkversion 16         targetsdkversion 23         applicationid 'org.catrobat.catroid'         testapplicationid "org.catrobat.catroid.test"         testinstrumentationrunner 'pl.polidea.instrumentation.polideainstrumentationtestrunner'         versioncode 24         println "versioncode " + versioncode         versionname "0.9.17"         println "versionname " + versionname         buildconfigfield "string", "git_describe", "\"${versionname}\""         buildconfigfield "string", "git_current_branch", "\"${getcurrentgitbranch()}\""     }     defaultconfig {         multidexenabled = true     } }   ext {     projectversion = "0.9" }  configurations {     compile.exclude group: 'xpp3' //compile problem xstream     natives }  dependencies {     compile 'com.actionbarsherlock:actionbarsherlock:4.4.0@aar'     compile 'com.android.support:support-v4:19.1.0'     compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.1'     compile 'com.google.guava:guava:18.0'     compile ('com.squareup.okhttp:okhttp:2.3.0') {         exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-v4'         exclude group: 'com.google.android.gms'     }     compile ( 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.3.1') {         exclude group: 'com.android.support', module: 'support-v4'         exclude group: 'com.google.android.gms'     }     compile 'com.github.johnpersano:supertoasts:1.3.4@aar'     compile 'com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream:1.4.7'     def gdxversion = '1.6.2'     compile 'com.badlogicgames.gdx:gdx:' + gdxversion     compile 'com.badlogicgames.gdx:gdx-backend-android:' + gdxversion     natives 'com.badlogicgames.gdx:gdx-platform:' + gdxversion + ':natives-x86'     natives 'com.badlogicgames.gdx:gdx-platform:' + gdxversion + ':natives-armeabi'     natives 'com.badlogicgames.gdx:gdx-platform:' + gdxversion + ':natives-armeabi-v7a'     compile 'com.facebook.android:facebook-android-sdk:4.4.0'       compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:4.4.52'     //compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-plus:7.8.0'     //compile 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:7.8.0'     compile filetree(include: '*.jar', dir: 'catroid/libs')     compile filetree(include: '*.jar', dir: 'catroid/libs-natives')     androidtestcompile filetree(include: '*.jar', dir: 'catroidtest/libs')     androidtestcompile 'com.jayway.android.robotium:robotium-solo:5.2.1'     androidtestcompile 'com.google.dexmaker:dexmaker:1.2'     androidtestcompile 'com.google.dexmaker:dexmaker-mockito:1.2'     androidtestcompile 'org.mockito:mockito-core:1.10.19'     pmd 'net.sourceforge.pmd:pmd:5.1.1'     checkstyle 'com.puppycrawl.tools:checkstyle:6.7' }  task copyandroidnatives() {     file("catroid/jnilibs/armeabi/").mkdirs();     file("catroid/jnilibs/armeabi-v7a/").mkdirs();     file("catroid/jnilibs/x86/").mkdirs();     configurations.natives.files.each { jar ->         def outputdir = null         if(jar.name.endswith("natives-armeabi-v7a.jar")) outputdir = file("catroid/jnilibs/armeabi-v7a")         if(jar.name.endswith("natives-armeabi.jar")) outputdir = file("catroid/jnilibs/armeabi")         if(jar.name.endswith("natives-x86.jar")) outputdir = file("catroid/jnilibs/x86")         if(outputdir != null) {             copy {                 ziptree(jar)                 outputdir                 include "*.so"             }         }     } }  if (project.hasproperty('jenkins')) {     project.android.dexoptions.predexlibraries = false     project.android.dexoptions.javamaxheapsize = "2048m" }  

on device (nexus 4 lollipop) app running without problems when signing in google+. within android studio tests seem run without these exceptions. i've tried disable bytecode verification during testing like:

tasks.withtype(test) {     scanfortestclasses = false     include "**/*test.class"  test {         // set jvm arguments test jvm(s)       jvmargs '-xx:-usesplitverifier'   } } 

but still had same errors.

also note, haven't compiled current version 'com.google.android.gms:play-services:7.8.0' or 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-plus:7.8.0', respectively, because first need replace actionbarsherlock appcompat (otherwise won't compile). i'm not sure whether need apply 'com.google.gms.google-services' plugin (seems work without plugin) - haven't included yet because changes task structure, our automated jenkins test system depends on.

even after hours of searching don't understand why happens.