Is it a coincidence that Nephi reminded his brothers of the “flying fiery serpents” sent by the Lord to chastise the children of Israel for their murmuring in regions believed to be infested by flying serpents?

In 1 Nephi 17:41, Nephi reminds Laman and Lemuel of the Israelites rebelling in the wilderness:

And he did straiten them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.

Neal Rappleye points out:

[W]hile traveling through South Arabia and staying in the Dhofar region, Lehi and his family would have encountered the same snake species found in the desert south of Judah and identified with the seraph-serpents from biblical traditions. At least by the time of Herodotus, who wrote about 100 years after Lehi’s journey, local South Arabian legends apparently referred to these snakes as being “winged” and able to fly. This means that between both the Valley of Lemuel and Bountiful — the two locations where most of Nephi’s narrative takes place — the Lehite group had spent a large portion of their time near or within the habitat of the seraph-serpents. As such, when Nephi reminded his brothers of the “flying fiery serpents” sent by the Lord to chastise the children of Israel for their murmuring (1 Nephi 17:41), it would have held a relevance that is often lost on readers today: they, too, were traveling and camping in regions believed to be infested by flying serpents, and if they were not faithful, the Lord could just as easily punish them by unleashing those dangerous snakes.
– Neal Rappleye – Serpents of Fire and Brass: A Contextual Study of the Brazen Serpent Tradition in the Book of Mormon

Why would Joseph Smith go to such lengths if it would be lost on readers today?

See:

Neal Rappleye – Serpents of Fire and Brass: A Contextual Study of the Brazen Serpent Tradition in the Book of Mormon

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