Animal Crossing: New Horizons bugs and where to catch them

(Image credit: Nintendo)

Jump to:

Bugs - Northern Hemisphere
Bugs - Southern Hemisphere

You may not like all of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons bugs and creepy crawlies you can find on your islands, but knowing where and when they appear so you can catch them is essential for filling up your museum to "complete" that part of the game. However, this task isn't as straightforward as it may sound at first, because some bugs only appear during certain seasons and others are incredibly skittish so hide away in specific types of cover. Your reward for catching all of the Animal Crossing: New Horizons bugs is the coveted gold net recipe, along with building up a well-stocked museum display, so it's worth putting the time in to fill out your collection.

The availability of each bug species depends on which part of the world you're in, as well as the season and time of day. With that in mind, we've been working across two islands to try and bring you the most complete Animal Crossing: New Horizons bug guide to date, divided up by hemisphere (north and south).

Skip to the right section for you below:
Animal Crossing New Horizons Northern Hemisphere bugs
Animal Crossing New Horizons Southern Hemisphere bugs

How to catch Animal Crossing: New Horizons bugs

If you're wondering how exactly to catch bugs in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, all you'll need is a net and good timing / aim. Just have your net out, and press A to swing it when you're near a bug. Almost all bugs will be visibly fluttering or scuttling around your island, although some like the bagworm and spider will only appear when you shake a tree, descending from the boughs on a string.

It's worth nothing that some are skittish and may require you to approach carefully. You can do this by holding A down to ready your net and then creep towards the bug, only releasing A when you're in capture range.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Bugs - Northern Hemisphere

Animal Crossing: New Horizons divides the habits of its bugs depending on whether you're North or South of the Equator. We'll cover the North first, but you can always just skip down to find the South beneath it.

Animal Crossing New Horizons Northern Hemisphere bugs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Drag and scroll to move left and right.
Header Cell - Column 0	Name	Seasonality (North Hem)	Availability	Location
1	Common Butterfly	Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec	4AM - 7PM	Flowers
2	Yellow Butterfly	Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sept, Oct	4AM - 7PM	Flying
3	Tiger Butterfly	Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	4AM - 7PM	Flying
4	Peacock Butterfly	Mar, Apr, May, Jun	4AM - 7PM	Flowers (Blue, Black, Purple)
5	Common Bluebottle	Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug	4AM - 7PM	Flying
6	Paper Kite Butterfly	All months	9AM - 7PM	Flying
7	Great Purple Emperor	May, Jun, Jul, Aug	4AM - 7PM	Flying
8	Monarch Butterfly	Sept, Oct, Nov	4AM - 5PM	Flying
9	Emperor Butterfly	Jan, Feb, Mar, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Dec	5PM - 8AM	Flying
10	Agrias Butterfly	Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	8AM - 5PM	Flying
11	Rajah Brooke's Birdwing	Jan, Feb, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Dec	8AM - 5PM	Flowers (Blue, Black, Purple)
12	Queen Alexandra's Birdwing	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	8AM - 4PM	Flying
13	Moth	All months	7PM - 4AM	Around light
14	Atlas Moth	Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	7PM - 4AM	On trees
15	Madagascan Sunset Moth	Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	8AM - 4PM	Flying
16	Long Locust	Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov	8AM - 7PM	In grass
17	Migratory Locust	Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov	8AM - 7PM	In grass
18	Rice Grasshopper	Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov	8AM - 7PM	In grass
19	Grasshopper	Jul, Aug, Sept	8AM - 5PM	In grass
20	Cricket	Sept, Oct, Nov	5PM - 8AM	In grass
21	Bell Cricket	Sept, Oct	5PM - 8AM	In grass
22	Mantis	Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov	8AM - 5PM	Flowers
23	Orchid Mantis	Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov	8AM - 5PM	Flowers
24	Honeybee	Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul	8AM - 5PM	Flowers
25	Wasp	All months	All hours	Shaking trees
26	Brown Cicada	Jul, Aug	8AM - 5PM	On trees
27	Robust Cicada	Jul, Aug	8AM - 5PM	On trees
28	Giant Cicada	Jul, Aug	8AM - 5PM	On trees
29	Walker Cicada	Aug, Sept	8AM - 4PM	On trees
30	Evening Cicada	Jul, Aug	4AM - 8AM, 4PM - 7PM	On trees
31	Cicada Shell	Jul, Aug	All hours	On trees
32	Red Dragonfly	Sept, Oct	8AM - 7PM	Flying
33	Darner Dragonfly	Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct	8AM - 5PM	Flying
34	Banded Dragonfly	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct	8AM - 5PM	Flying
35	Damselfly	Jan, Feb, Nov, Dec	All hours	Flying
36	Firefly	Jun	7PM - 4AM	Above freshwater
37	Mole Cricket	Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Nov, Dec	All hours	Underground
38	Pondskater	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	8AM - 7PM	In rivers
39	Diving Beetle	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	8AM - 7PM	In rivers
40	Giant Water Beetle	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	7PM - 8AM	Ponds and rivers
41	Stinkbug	Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct	All hours	On trees
42	Man-faced Stink Bug	Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct	7PM - 8AM	Flowers
43	Ladybug	Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Oct	8AM - 5PM	Flowers
44	Tiger Beetle	Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct	All hours	Flying
45	Jewel Beetle	Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug	All hours	On trees
46	Citrus Long-horned Beetle	All months	All hours	Tree stumps
47	Rosalia Batesi Beetle	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	All hours	Tree stumps
48	Blue Weevil Beetle	Jul, Aug	All hours	On trees
49	Violin Beetle	May, Jun, Sept, Oct, Nov	All hours	On trees
50	Dung Beetle	Jan, Feb, Dec	All hours	Ground
51	Earth-boring Dung Beetle	Jul, Aug, Sept	All hours	Ground
52	Scarab Beetle	Jul, Aug	11PM - 8AM	On trees
53	Drone Beetle	Jun, Jul, Aug	All hours	On trees
54	Goliath Beetle	Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	5PM - 8AM	On trees
55	Saw Stag	Jul, Aug	All hours	On trees
56	Miyama Stag	Jul, Aug	All hours	On trees
57	Giant Stag	Jul, Aug	11PM - 8AM	On trees
58	Rainbow Stag	Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	7PM - 8AM	On trees
59	Cyclommatus Stag	Jul, Aug	5PM - 8AM	On trees
60	Golden Stag	Jul, Aug	5PM - 8AM	On trees
61	Giraffe Stag	Jul, Aug	5PM - 8AM	On trees
62	Horned Dynastid	Jul, Aug	5PM - 8AM	On trees
63	Horned Atlas	Jul, Aug	5PM - 8AM	On trees
64	Horned Elephant	Jul, Aug	5PM - 8AM	On trees
65	Horned Hercules	Jul, Aug	5PM - 8AM	On trees
66	Walking Stick	Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov	4AM - 8AM, 5PM - 7PM	On trees
67	Walking Leaf	Jul, Aug, Sept	All hours	On ground by trees
68	Bagworm	All months	All hours	Shaking trees
69	Ant	All months	All hours	On rotten turnips and fruit
70	Hermit Crab	All months	7PM - 8AM	On beach
71	Wharf Roach	All months	All hours	On beach rocks
72	Fly	All months	All hours	On rotten food and garbage
73	Mosquito	Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept	5PM - 4AM	Flying
74	Flea	Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov	All hours	On flea-infested villagers
75	Snail	All months	All hours	On rocks
76	Pillbug	Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec	11PM - 4PM	Hitting rocks
77	Centipede	Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec	4PM - 11PM	Hitting rocks
78	Spider	All months	7PM - 8AM	Shaking trees
79	Tarantula	Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Nov, Dec	7PM - 4AM	Ground
80	Scorpion	May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sept, Oct	7PM - 4AM	Ground

Animal Crossing: New Horizons Bugs - Southern Hemisphere

Now we'll cover insect patterns in the Southern side of the world, which don't tend to overlap with the Northern patterns, barring a few outliers and exceptions. Work through the year and you should come away with a full collection for the Museum!

Animal Crossing New Horizons Southern Hemisphere bugs