Though these ceatures are called insects and look like such, they are not: they do not have three pairs of legs, but four pairs of suction pads instead. Their body is scaly, and they have a tail that ends with a sting, almost like the one of a scorpio, though much bigger. They can fly thanks to their two pairs of wings.

These insects have made human beings of BP6-3Q1 extinct. Indeed, they reproduce by converting the matter of other living beings into new insects just like them. To achieve this, they inject with their scorpio-sting-like tail a venom which contains a retro-virus that transforms the DNA of the victim and turns it into the DNA of the creature. Then, through equal matter conversion, the victim metamorphoses into a dozen of creatures.

The metamorphose begins with symptoms that could be due to a viral infection: fever, pains, shivers, … But then, blisters appear on the skin of the victim. The final stage of the metamorphose seems to require darkness. The victim gets into a cocoon, which is broken at the end of the transformation by a dozen of insects. We do not precisely know the duration of the metamorphosis, but Carter believes that if it had not been stopped, it would have caused swarms in the millions in six to eight weeks.

When Teal'c was infected, his symbiote was unable to heal him, but only slowed down the transformation. However, once he received the RNA inhibitors selected by Dr. Harlow, the symbiote was able to stop and reverse the process. Nonetheless, it is only the conjunction of the experimental RNA inhibitors and the symbiote's natural healing abilities that enabled Teal'c to survive.

The alive insect that SG-1 had to capture and all the research made about it were to be transferred to Area 51, but have "inadvertently" been destroyed in a "laboratory accident" Dr. Harlow had to take full responsability for.