And you thought COVID-19 was bad! Population of giant SCORPIONS up to 9cm long is exploding in Victoria

A population of giant scorpions reaching up to 9cm is exploding in regional Victoria.

La Trobe University researchers discovered hundreds of burrows while scouring the Mallee region of Victoria. 

Ecologist Heloise Gibb said researchers were shocked at the size and density of the scorpions they spotted while searching the area at night.

Scorpions reaching up to 9cm in length have been found in regional Victoria

Researchers found up to 600 scorpion burrows per hectare in parts of north-western Victoria

'They are definitely big in size, up to 9cm in length' Dr Gibb told Daily Mail Australia.

'They are not a new species, but we've just found that they're bigger and there's a lot of them with a really high density in the area.'

The scorpions were found by researchers using UV-proof glasses and torches, as they glow with a fluorescent light in the dark.

'They glow in white, blue and green and are very bright,' Dr Gibb said. 'It makes them really easy to find.' 

Dr Gibb said 600 scorpion burrows per hectare were discovered in parts of the region, with the arachnids packing a powerful sting.

'The sting is not lethal but it's painful,' Dr Gibb said. 'They can be quite aggressive too, sometimes we have to pick them up to do measurements so we use padded tongs to pick them up by their tail.

'When they know you're there they have their tail standing right up ready to get you if they want to.'

Dr Heloise Gibb said the scorpions are among several species that come out at night

Dr Gibb said the scorpions are fairly widespread across the country in semi arid and arid areas as they like sandy places. 

Her research is studying the impact of reintroducing threatened animals such as bilbies into locations where there is a high density of scorpions.

'When we have brought bilbies back in, we have seen areas change from having a high density of scorpions to very few at all,' Dr Gibb said. 

'What we think is that they are being eaten by bilbies.'

Bilbies have become endangered due to human interference and a large number of predators, which has caused the number of scorpions in arid habitats to soar.

Researchers wear UV-proof glasses to spot the scorpions glowing around their burrows at night