Scaraphytes were space-borne organisms with acidic properties. To approach the Galactic Empire's Tarkin Initiative facility, Hivebase-1, while avoiding a surrounding swarm of these creatures, a very particular flight path was necessary. The mobile rebel flight school, Lucrehulk Prime, was drawn to Hivebase-1 around 1 ABY by the renegade archaeologist Chelli Aphra in an effort to create a diversion for her infiltration of the facility. Although the scaraphytes attacked and damaged the flight school, they ultimately behaved unpredictably when Aphra's droid, Dek-Nil, opened fire on them.
A swarm of scaraphytes surrounded the Galactic Empire's Tarkin Initiative research and development center, Hivebase-1, during the Galactic Civil War. Navigating around them required a specific flight trajectory to avoid their corrosive effects. Around 1 ABY, Doctor Chelli Aphra, a rogue archaeologist, led a mercenary crew in an attempt to steal data by infiltrating the R&D complex. She negotiated with the base to trade the Rebel Alliance General Hera Syndulla. Aphra's ship received the flight vectors to bypass the scaraphyte swarm before being locked on by a tractor beam. However, suspecting Imperial treachery, Aphra used Syndulla's ship, the mobile rebel flight school Lucrehulk Prime, as a distraction by luring it to Hivebase-1.
The scaraphytes immediately began attacking the flight school. The rebels aboard the Lucrehulk Prime struggled to activate the vessel's deflector shields and reroute personnel as the swarm began to corrode the hull, ultimately destroying the outer decks. Meanwhile, Aphra exploited the chaos to infiltrate Hivebase-1 with her crew. Once inside the complex, she used a planted bug to force the ship to cling to the base and use a tractor beam to extract its datacore, with most of the remaining mercenary crew and Syndulla on board. The scaraphytes continued to surround the Lucrehulk Prime, but their behavior became erratic when Aphra's droid, Dek-Nil, started shooting into the swarm. Hivebase-1 was soon destroyed due to Aphra's actions, and the Lucrehulk Prime escaped with the base's core.
The 2016 Star Wars: Doctor Aphra comic series, specifically the eighteenth issue, marked the first appearance of scaraphytes. Marvel Comics published this issue on March 28, 2018, and it was written by Si Spurrier and illustrated by Emilio Laiso.