Animal Crossing: New Horizons: How to Catch All 80 Insects – 2026 Guide

Why This 2026 Bug Guide Matters

After spending a few hundred hours with Animal Crossing: New Horizons across multiple years (and now on Switch 2 as well), the last thing I finished both times was the bug section of the museum. The March 2026 / version 3.0+ window makes this easier in some ways – more insects are active again – but also easier to mess up if you don’t know exactly when and where each of the 80 species appears.

The breakthrough for me came when I stopped wandering the island at random and treated bugs like a checklist: month, time of day, spawn location, value. Once I did that, I wrapped up my Critterpedia and made a nice pile of Bells on the side. This guide is that checklist in English, based on the current post‑3.0 spawn windows and tuned for the northern hemisphere.

Spawn Rules & Location Legend (Post‑3.0)

Most of my early mistakes came from not understanding how specific bug spawns really are. Patch 3.0 didn’t add completely new species, but it did shift some availability (especially around March) and made certain flower bugs more important again. If you know the rules, you can plan one or two short hunting sessions a day instead of running in circles.

In the checklist below, months are for the northern hemisphere, and times use the 24‑hour clock. Ranges that cross midnight (like 19-4) mean 19:00 that day until 04:00 the following morning.

• Flying – Bugs that spawn in the air anywhere on the island.
• Trees (shake) – Inside normal trees; shake to drop wasps, bagworms, spiders.
• Trees – Visible on the trunk of normal trees; walk up slowly and net them.
• Palm trees – On the trunks of beach palms; key for the rare 8,000–12,000 Bell beetles.
• Flowers – Sitting on open blossoms; they vanish if you sprint or pick the flower.
• Ground – On grass, dirt, paths, or beach sand.
• Tree stumps – Only appear on stumps from chopped trees; leave a few around.
• Rocks / under rocks – On top of beach rocks, or hidden under any rock you hit with a shovel.
• Underground – You’ll hear chirping; dig with a shovel to pop them out.
• Special – Trash, villagers, light sources, water surfaces, rotten turnips, etc. (explained in each entry).

March 2026: Key Bugs to Target First

March is when the island finally wakes up after the winter lull. When I came back for the 3.0 update, I made one big flower field near my plaza and ran two short routes every day: one in the morning and one at night. That alone knocked out most of these “March return” insects:

• Honeybee – Mar–Jul, 8–17, flying, 200 Bells. Buzzes around flower patches in broad daylight; super common but easy to ignore.
• Ladybug – Mar–Jun & Oct, 8–17, on flowers, 200 Bells. Check the tops of your blooms, not just what’s flying.
• Mantis & Orchid mantis – Mar–Nov, 8–17, on flowers, 430 / 2,400 Bells. Walk in slowly with your net raised; they flee quickly if you run.
• Man‑faced stink bug & Stinkbug – Mar–Oct, mostly on flowers, 1,000 / 120 Bells. The man‑faced version only shows at night (19–8) and is worth prioritizing.
• Yellow butterfly & Tiger butterfly – Both active from March during the day; easy early Critterpedia entries.
• Peacock butterfly – Mar–Jun, 4–19, flying, 2,500 Bells. Spawns around hybrid flowers; I farm a lot of Bells off these in March and April.

If you do nothing else this month, build one dense flower garden and walk slow loops around it at 9–11 in the morning and again after 20:00. That routine alone covers most of the March‑only or March‑returning insects in this guide.

Complete Insect Checklist (Northern Hemisphere, Post‑3.0)

Here’s the full 80‑insect list I used to finish my museum after the March 2026 update. Each line shows: Name – Months, Time, Location, Sell price. Times are 24‑hour; ranges like 17–8 run into the next morning.

• Evening cicada – Jul–Aug, 4–8 & 16–19, trees, 550 Bells.
• Agrias butterfly – Apr–Sep, 8–17, flying, 3,000 Bells.
• Golden stag – Jul–Aug, 17–8, palm trees, 12,000 Bells.
• Rosalia Batesi beetle – May–Sep, all day, tree stumps, 3,000 Bells.
• Ant – all year, all day, on rotten turnips, 80 Bells.
• Horned atlas – Jul–Aug, 17–8, palm trees, 8,000 Bells.
• Atlas moth – Apr–Sep, 19–4, trees, 3,000 Bells.
• Robust cicada – Aug–Sep, 8–17, trees, 400 Bells.
• Walking leaf – Jul–Sep, all day, ground under trees, 600 Bells.
• Blue weevil beetle – Jul–Aug, all day, palm trees, 800 Bells.
• Brown cicada – Jul–Aug, 8–17, trees, 250 Bells.
• Cyclommatus stag – Jul–Aug, 17–8, palm trees, 8,000 Bells.
• Hermit crab – all year, 19–8, beach, 1,000 Bells.
• Horned elephant – Jul–Aug, 17–8, palm trees, 8,000 Bells.
• Red dragonfly – Sep–Oct, 8–19, flying, 180 Bells.
• Citrus long‑horned beetle – all year, all day, tree stumps, 350 Bells.
• Fly – all year, all day, near trash, 60 Bells.
• Flea – Apr–Nov, all day, on villagers, 70 Bells.
• Violin beetle – May–Jun & Sep–Nov, all day, tree stumps, 450 Bells.
• Man‑faced stink bug – Mar–Oct, 19–8, flowers, 1,000 Bells.
• Giraffe stag – Jul–Aug, 17–8, trees, 12,000 Bells.
• Earth‑boring dung beetle – Jul–Sep, all day, ground, 300 Bells.
• Scarab beetle – Jul–Aug, 23–8, trees, 10,000 Bells.
• Goliath beetle – Jun–Sep, 17–8, palm trees, 8,000 Bells.
• Mantis – Mar–Nov, 8–17, flowers, 430 Bells.
• Grasshopper – Jul–Sep, 8–17, ground, 160 Bells.
• Cricket – Sep–Nov, 17–8, ground, 130 Bells.
• Horned hercules – Jul–Aug, 17–8, palm trees, 12,000 Bells.
• Rice grasshopper – Aug–Nov, 8–19, ground, 400 Bells.
• Emperor butterfly – Dec–Mar & Jun–Sep, 19–8, flying, 4,000 Bells.
• Miyama stag – Jul–Aug, all day, trees, 1,000 Bells.
• Honeybee – Mar–Jul, 8–17, flying, 200 Bells.
• Centipede – Sep–Jun, 16–23, under rocks, 300 Bells.
• Walker cicada – Jul–Aug, 8–17, trees, 300 Bells.
• Drone beetle – Jun–Aug, all day, trees, 200 Bells.
• Great purple emperor – May–Aug, 8–19, flying, 300 Bells.
• Common butterfly – Sep–Jun, 4–19, flying, 160 Bells.
• Common bluebottle – Apr–Aug, 4–19, flying, 300 Bells.
• Darner dragonfly – Apr–Oct, 8–17, flying, 230 Bells.
• Pill bug – Sep–Jun, 23–6, under rocks, 250 Bells.
• Firefly – Jun, 19–4, flying, 300 Bells.
• Wharf roach – all year, all day, rocks on beach, 200 Bells.
• Ladybug – Mar–Jun & Oct, 8–17, flowers, 200 Bells.
• Mole cricket – Nov–May, all day, underground, 500 Bells.
• Dung beetle – Dec–Feb, all day, ground, 300 Bells.
• Monarch butterfly – Sep–Nov, 8–17, flying, 140 Bells.
• Moth – all year, 19–4, light sources, 130 Bells.
• Mosquito – Jun–Sep, 19–4, flying, 130 Bells.
• Long locust – Apr–Nov, 8–19, ground, 200 Bells.
• Horned dynastid – Jul–Aug, 17–8, trees, 1,350 Bells.
• Orchid mantis – Mar–Nov, 8–17, flowers, 2,400 Bells.
• Rainbow stag – Jun–Sep, 19–8, trees, 6,000 Bells.
• Jewel beetle – Apr–Aug, all day, tree stumps, 2,400 Bells.
• Banded dragonfly – May–Oct, 8–17, flying, 4,500 Bells.
• Madagascan sunset moth – Apr–Sep, 8–16, flying, 2,500 Bells.
• Giant stag – Jul–Aug, 23–8, trees, 10,000 Bells.
• Giant water bug – Apr–Sep, 19–8, on water, 2,000 Bells.
• Giant cicada – Jul–Aug, 8–17, trees, 500 Bells.
• Peacock butterfly – Mar–Jun, 4–19, flying, 2,500 Bells.
• Bagworm – all year, all day, trees (shake), 600 Bells.
• Saw stag – Jul–Aug, all day, trees, 2,000 Bells.
• Tiger beetle – Feb–Oct, all day, ground, 1,500 Bells.
• Snail – all year, all day, rocks in rain, 250 Bells.
• Tiger butterfly – Mar–Sep, 4–19, flying, 240 Bells.
• Diving beetle – May–Sep, 8–19, on water, 800 Bells.
• Bell cricket – Sep–Oct, 17–8, ground, 430 Bells.
• Scorpion – May–Oct, 19–4, ground, 8,000 Bells.
• Spider – all year, 19–8, trees (shake), 600 Bells.
• Walking stick – Jul–Nov, 4–8 & 17–19, trees, 600 Bells.
• Stinkbug – Mar–Oct, all day, flowers, 120 Bells.
• Rajah Brooke’s birdwing – Dec–Feb & Apr–Sep, 8–17, flying, 2,500 Bells.
• Queen Alexandra’s birdwing – May–Sep, 8–16, flying, 4,000 Bells.
• Tarantula – Nov–Apr, 19–4, ground, 8,000 Bells.
• Migratory locust – Aug–Nov, 8–19, ground, 600 Bells.
• Damselfly – Nov–Feb, all day, flying, 500 Bells.
• Pondskater – May–Sep, 8–19, on water, 130 Bells.
• Paper kite butterfly – all year, 8–19, flying, 1,000 Bells.
• Wasp – all year, all day, trees (shake), 2,500 Bells.
• Cicada shell – Jul–Aug, all day, trees, 10 Bells.
• Yellow butterfly – Mar–Jun & Sep–Oct, 4–19, flying, 160 Bells.

Catching Technique & Time‑Saving Tips

Knowing the checklist is only half the battle; the other half is how you move. I wasted a lot of time sprinting right past rare beetles or scaring off flower bugs. What finally worked was playing more deliberately:

• Use the slow creep: Hold your net out and gently tilt the stick to creep forward. Swing when you’re about one character‑length away. This is mandatory for mantises, stinkbugs, and all the expensive beetles.
• Plan short “bug windows”: Instead of roaming all day, pick a few slots that overlap many species – for example 8–10 in the morning for butterflies/flower bugs, and 19–23 for night fliers, tarantulas, and scorpions.
• Farm rare beetles in summer: In Jul–Aug around 23–4, clear an island or your beaches, leave only palm trees, and loop slowly. This is how I finished off the 8,000–12,000 Bell stags and horned beetles.
• Use Critterpedia filters: After you catch something once, the in‑game Critterpedia confirms months and times. I kept this guide and the Critterpedia side by side to see exactly what I was missing each month.
• Southern hemisphere players: Shift months by roughly six (Jul ↔ Jan, Aug ↔ Feb, etc.). The time‑of‑day and locations stay the same.

If you work through this checklist month by month, you’ll hit a point where new bug icons stop appearing altogether – that’s when you know you’re down to pure seasonals like tarantulas, scorpions, or the summer beetles. Stick with it. The moment Blathers tells you the insect collection is complete is absolutely worth the planning.