The unidentified woman was struck on the hand on Alaska Airlines Flight 567 to Portland, Oregon, as it was taxiing on the runway.

An airline spokesman said that the plane returned to the gate and the woman received medical attention before disembarking. She refused an offer of additional medical treatment but did not return to the aeroplane.

Cabin crew killed the arachnid and checked the overhead compartments for any other creatures.

An Alaska Airlines flight took off an hour late after a woman was stung by a scorpion on board. Photo: KTLA via Twitter

The flight took off about an hour late, at 8.40pm local time.

A reporter for the Oregonian newspaper, Tyson Alger, who was on the flight, tweeted that a man flicked the scorpion off his shoulder, after which the creature landed on the woman’s hand.

“Chivalry is dead, he added.

Of the 1,500 species of scorpion, only about 30 can inflict lethal stings. Generally, stings are painful but not deadly for healthy adults.

It is not known how the scorpion got on to the plane, but the flight originated in Los Cabos, Mexico, where scorpions are prevalent.

It is not known which species stung the woman on the Alaska Airlines flight.

&lt;noframe&gt;Twitter: Tyson Alger - Guy saw scorpion on his shoulder flicked it off and it landed on lady and stung her. Chivalry is dead.&lt;/noframe&gt;

This is not the first time an air passenger has been the victim of an arachnid bite. In 2012, a woman won $80,000 compensation from Delta Air Lines, after being stung by a brown recluse spider, one of the most deadly in North America, on a transatlantic flight, according to AJC.com.

In 2009, a British man was arrested after he was caught trying to smuggle 1,000 live spiders out of Brazil in his hold luggage.