A creature is attacking residents in northern Mexico and residents are referring to it as a “flying scorpion.”
Residents around Hermosillo, Sonora are calling the creature “alacran volador,” or flying scorpion, reported SDPnoticias.
However, the creature is actually found across the Americas, including parts of the United States such as Alabama, Texas, and Kansas.
“Panorpa nuptialis emerge as adults from September to November, and early December in the southern part of its range with a peak emergence in October,” explains the California Academy of Sciences on its website.
“This species prefers more open, sunlit habitat than most North American species of Panorpa, such as field crops, meadows, pastures and open woodland.”
While residents are fearful of the creature’s sting, the stinger is actually the male reproductive organ and is used by the creatures to impregnate females.
The creatures feed on dead flies and other smaller insects and typically don’t bother humans.
Henderson State University says that the flying scorpions are “harmless.”
It also notes that real scorpions are very harmful but that they don’t have wings.
The flying scorpions are also known as scorpionflies, and are part of a primitive order named Mecoptera, which means “long wing.”
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